Foi, de l'amour et de la Destinée
by Jollyangelofmusic
Summary: The story of highschool!Christine, Meg, Nadir and Erik as they go through the last years of highschool and most of the drama that tags along with it. Rated M for later chapters. As always E/C I'm not sure how long it'll be R/C though. Not long I promise! Mmm yes Raoul bashing right off the bat for this one c;
1. Introduction

**Christine:**

16 year old Christine Daae rolled out of bed onto the floor after slamming the off button on her alarm clock. 'Ooofh!' She laid face down on the floor for several minutes until her father started knocking on her door.

'Chris time to wake up!'

She rolled onto her back and sprawled her limbs over the floor. 'Ughhhhh.'

Her father opened the door and sighed at the sight of his daughter. He went over to her and lightly poked her head with his toe. 'Come on time to get up. It's almost winter break you can do it.'

She looked up at him and rolled her eyes. 'If I have to deal with Carlotta for one more second I'm going to become an alcoholic.'

'Not for another 4 years missy. I know you're not Carlotta's biggest fan, but you can't be late and you know that. You don't want to loose your scholarship do you?'

She sighed and sat up to pull her wavy blonde hair up into a messy ponytail. 'No I don't. I barely got it to begin with.' She stood and went over to her closet and pulled out a red v-neck t-shirt and a pair of dark wash capris for the day. She grabbed her delicates and passed by her dad to go to the bathroom.

**Erik: **

The tall lanky young man stood in front of his mirror making sure his mask was in place. He hated looking in the mirror, it reminded him of why he'd never be accepted in this world. Once he was pleased that his mask would stay in place through what was guaranteed to be a horrible day he slipped his black long sleeve shirt and black cargo jeans on which he was fortunate enough to find long enough for him. He hated being the new kid, it was crappy enough to just be the new kid, but being the new _masked _kid was a whole different story. He exmined himself in the mirror. He wasn't _bad _looking besides the right half of his face. He had gold eyes which apparently was cool, but to him made him stand out even more so he hated them. He was eerily tall, pale white skin, his hair was naturally jet black and he was pretty thin which he was working on fixing, and according to his father he had a handsome face on the left side. He detested his mother for being a druggie while she was pregnant with him. She might as well have aborted him since he already looked like a skeleton. He was putting his shoes on when his father walked in wearing his Airforce Captain's uniform. As much as he hated moving around his father was just doing what was best for him and his adopted brother Nadir. The good thing about his dad was that he had been in war so he was used to gruesome injuries and disfigurements, plus his father didn't put up with his crap so he did well in school because he wouldn't have it any other way. They had moved to Phoenix, Arizona because he had been transferred to Luke Airforce Base. Luckily he would be turning 18 next year so if his father were transferred again he could stay put or go where he wanted to go. His father sat down on the bed after pushing several articles of clothing to the side. 'Erik.'

The boy gave himself one last look then turned to face his father. 'Yes?'

'I want you to have a good day at school, okay? I promise this is our last move so try and be nice.'

Knowing fighting over it would be useless he grabbed his backpack and slung it over his shoulders then saluted his father. 'I will. I'll see you tonight dad.'

The Captain stood and followed his son out of his room and down the stairs to the front door. 'I love you, son.'

The young man never once took his father saying that for granted since he didn't _have _to love him. His own mother dropped him off with his dad and bailed after she saw his face. Yes it was her fault, but she didn't care. 'I love you too,dad.' He opened the door and Nadir came out of the kitchen with a Nutrigrain bar in his mouth. They waved to their father and he grabbed the keys to the car before closing the door behind him.

**Christine: **

She squeezed some leave in conditioner and ran it through her long blonde hair. She rinsed her hands off then grabbed her mascara to put on her eyelashes to bring out the blue in her eyes. She wasn't a fan of her eyes, but her father said that she got them from her mother, which sounded absurd because her mother had beautiful eyes. She finished putting her mascara on and twisted the cap back on then took a step back to examine herself in the mirror while putting deodorant on. She had soft facial features, average B size breasts, she had nice curves and a light tan since being in Arizona meant getting tan sooner or later. She was 5'6" so she had somewhat long legs and a nice butt, or that's what Raoul told her at least. She knew he was just trying to sweet talk her into having sex, but she was waiting for the right moment, but lately he had been bringing it up more and more and whenever she'd say no he'd storm off and not talk to her for a couple days then they'd have a good day then the next day it'd happen all over again. She sighed and started to get dressed preparing for whatever today brought her. Once she was dressed she put perfume on then dried her hair off once more and hung her towel up on the shower rod. She opened the door and went into her room to grab her phone, backpack and keys. She closed her door and made her way down to the kitchen and grabbed a water from the fridge and gave her father a hug. 'Bye dad. I'll see you later tonight.'

'Bye sweetheart have a good day at school.' Her father went back to drinking his coffee after she left the room. She grabbed her sunglasses off the entry table and put them on as she opened the door. She stepped outside and closed the door behind her.

**Authors note: Can you guys tell me what you guys think please? Because I have more ideas that I can write if you guys don't like this one.**


	2. Brat

Authors note: Alright to first person now, I couldn't think of a better second chapter so here's this. I feel like I'm repeating Severed Hearts beginning in a way, but do not fret, I'm not. I realized how similar it was _after _I wrote it.

P.S We should stop correcting me on my characteristics because of a movie. I want her blonde, so she's going to be blonde. The movie can go fondle itself.

P.S.S

Peace out readers I shall be back Saturday with stories of how awesome Ramin was \(^~^)/

P.S.S.S

After extensive and rather frustrating attempts to troubleshoot my laptop I think I've figured it out and I'll have it fixed after I get back from Canada so I'll be back to having better well written chapters soon.

**Christine: **

I pulled up in front of Meg's house and honked the horn several times so she knew I was waiting for her. It didn't take her long to come flying out the door over to the car and to get in. She tossed her backpack in the back and I sped away as she buckled her seat belt. 'Hey missy.'

'Hey Chris! I have some bad news to tell you.'

I glanced over at her and turned the radio down so I could hear her better. 'What's up?' I stepped down on the break as we approached a stop sign then seconds later sped up.

'My mom is dragging me to California this winter break so we can see my brother.'

'What?! That's bullcrap its cheaper to bring him here!' I stopped momentarily to make sure it was ok to turn then turned right.

'Yeah I know. I told her that, but I think she wants me to check SDSU out so she's taking me away from you this break.'

'Ugh. As much as I love your mom she's so strict. How am I going to get out of hanging out with Raoul all the time now? You were my excuse!'

She crossed her legs and glared at me. 'Hey here's an idea... dump his grabby ass!'

We stopped at a red light. 'Yeah let's just sabotage the rest of my highschool social life shall we? I already have Carlotta's gang on my ass, I don't need Raoul's too!' My words drenched in sarcasm.

'Christine, if you're willing to deal with him for the rest of high school for a social status I'm questioning who you really are because that's low.'

I slammed on the gas once the light turned green and sighed. 'I know! I'm just wanting to enjoy the rest of high school.'

'Do you really think you'll be able to be happy with Raoul dry humping you once a week?'

'No- I don't know. Maybe I'll just do it and get it over with.' I turned left.

Meg sat up and pointed her finger at me. 'No! Don't give into his obnoxiousness because you don't want to lose your slight social acceptance!'

I scoffed and turned right onto the curved road that led up to the high school. 'Who are you to say if I can have sex or not?'

'I'm your best friend! If I were you, you'd be strangling me by now! I will play sick this break so I can vaginablock you. I will _never _leave your side!'

I glared at her for a split second then looked back at the road. 'Oh that's low.'

'Yeah. So either break up with him or refuse him until he breaks up with you! There is no happy ending between you two so you might as well stop pretending.'

'And how do you know that?' I stopped at the stop sign then turned left into the parking lot of the school.

'Because you need me so you can avoid him, all you do is complain about him and you aren't happy.'

I pulled into a parking space and sat back. 'How do you know I'm not happy?' I looked over at her.

'Because we've practically been friends since we were in our mother wombs. Our periods are synchronized we're together so much. If I don't know if you're sad or not I'm a shitty best friend.' She reaching into the back seat and grabbed her backpack then got out of the car. I grabbed mine and got the keys out of the ignition then got out. I pulled my pants up as I walked up to her and made sure to lock the car.

'Well you have a point and I will take it into consideration.' We intertwined arms and skipped into the building. We went to our assigned lockers and when I opened my locker and saw a note waiting for me. I put away my backpack and grabbed the note to read it. _Hey Chris, meet me at the back of the school when you get this. _I folded the note and put it in my back pocket then closed my locker. I began walking to the back of the school which I would immediately regret most likely.

**Erik: **

'Erik calm down, I hear people here are a lot less judgmental than people in Georgia.'

'Oh Nadir, how you calm me so! What would I ever do without you?' I rolled my eyes and turned the music up louder to drown anything else he'd try to say. Luckily when dad was looking for a house he picked one that was 10 minutes away from the school, driving so I wouldn't have to drown him out for long. I stopped at a red light and tapped my fingers on the steering wheel to the beat. The light turned green and I took the left hand turn then after a couple blocks turned right. I stopped at the stop sign at the end of the curvy road then turned into the parking lot. I found a parking spot and grabbed my backpack before turning the car off and getting out. Not really wanting to be seen walking in the halls as we walked up I broke away from Nadir and went to what I assumed was the back of the school.

**Christine: **

I turned the corner and saw Raoul leaning against the wall texting someone but put his phone away when I walked up to him. 'What do you need?' I crossed my arms and narrowed my eyes.

'Aww come on babe don't be pissed at me.' He went to touch my cheek but I flinched away to show him just how his push for more intimacy was making loose any and all physical contact with me.

'What do you want?' I lazily blinked as I looked at him.

He looked at me in a way that made my skin crawl, and not in a good way and simply said 'You.' Within a blink of an eye he had me pinned against the wall.

'What are you doing Raoul get off me!' I tried to shove him off but didn't succeed.

'We've been dating a year, you owe me!' He tightened his hold on my wrists.

I tried to shove him off once again but failed. 'I don't fucking owe you shit you entitled brat! Now let go!' I went to knee him but he deflected it with his own leg. I frustratingly put my head against a wall after several more failed attempts to get free. _Why did I have to date the captain of the football team?! _I accepted whatever he was going to do as he held my wrists with one hand and his other made its way into my pants.

**Erik:**

After a minute or so of walking I turned the corner and saw a couple of students talking so I went back around the corner. I peeked to see if they were gone but saw the short blonde girl trying to push the guy off of her. I considered turning a blind eye and dealing with the stares of students or doing the right thing and helping this chick out. Deciding the latter I set my backpack down and started to walk over to them. As I walked towards them the girl started to give up and within seconds the dude had his hands down her pants. _I'm _not even that desperate. I reached them and tapped on the guys shoulder. Even with him who looked about six foot I had three or four inches on him. The guy turned and snarled at me. 'Piss off freak.'

Ya'know that word used to make me upset, but now calling me freak is like calling me Erik. I accepted that's how people viewed me and it was who I was, but I couldn't help it so I tried to not let it bother me. I laughed a little when he turned back to the chick and tapped on his shoulder again. 'Really? So not only are you desperate, but you also like to state the obvious. You have a lot going for ya buddy. But from the looks of it she really doesn't want your hands on her so I suggest you _piss off._' He _once _again turned back to the girl. I rolled my eyes and groaned before grabbing him by the shoulders and yanking him off of her. He fell on his back but quickly looked back up to me.

'What the hell? Leave me and my girlfriend alone freak!'

I sighed and kneeled down next to him. 'Like I said captain obvious, she doesn't want to be touched by you. So not only can you state the obvious repeatedly, you're desperate BUT you're completely oblivious to threats who aren't even a foot away from you! You're pro list keeps getting bigger. I think even I might be falling for you.' I batted my eyes then stood up to check on the girl. 'You okay?' She nodded her head and took deep breaths. I saw tears forming in her eyes. 'Maybe you should go to the nurse.' Her eyes looked away from me and widened. I tiled my head back and sighed. 'He's getting up isn't he?' She nodded once again and I quickly turned just in time to step out of the shaky punch he threw 'Golly I have boys lining up for me today and I haven't even been here 30 minutes. Although my current seeeeker.' I barely ducked from a better aimed punch. 'Is quite pathetic, I'll take what I can get.' I grabbed the guys fist and twisted it and brought it behind his back. Another pro to having a military father was learning how to fight. I pushed him face first against the wall making sure to avoid the trembling girl and kissed his cheek. I put on a fake female country accent. 'What a handsome young man! Oh I thought I'd have spend my dowry on booze and pills to numb the loneliness!' I saw the blonde laugh a little spite everything going on at the moment and I smirked a bit. 'Are you going to go now? It's my first day and I'd hate to be late. First impressions are everything you know. Well obviously you do because you've just bout got me love struck!'

'Let me go!' His voice was somewhat muffled so I leaned in a bit.

'Sorry what was that? You'd leave this girl alone if I promise not to break your arm? Well I think that sounds fair, don't you?' I looked over at the blonde who desperately shook her head yes, but heard nothing from the boy so I tighened my grip on him.

I hear him squeal then scream. 'Alright! I'll go just let me go!'

'Ahh... wise child.' I pulled him away from the wall and turned him to the left then pushed him away from the two of us. He went running and honestly if he told anyone I'd have a witness so I turned and looked at her. 'I guess you should head to the nurse.' She nodded and I started to go get my backpack when I felt her arms desperately wrap around my torso. I tensed up and just kinda stood there with my arms in the air. After a minute I spoke up. 'What cha doin?'

She pulled away and wiped her face. 'I'm sorry it's just thank you. There's no way I could have gotten him off. Again I'm sorry.' She turned to leave and she vanished around to corner within seconds.

I shrugged it off and went over to my backpack as the warning bell went off. 'Dammit!' I broke into a sprint and hurried to Literary class which was my homeroom and got there with seconds to spare. The teacher looked at me just like every other teacher has.

'Name?' She kinda curled her thin upper lip at me and pursed her lips.

'Uh Erik Destler.' I pulled my backpack off my shoulder and held it by my side.

'Ah yes second row third seat please.' I nodded and looked down at the floor as I navigated through the maze of desks then sat down at my assigned seat.

'Right so your father came in and took care of any and all paperwork I was going to give you today so here's this and I will expect you too utilized it and _not_ for smoking weed.' She set an Agenda down on my desk and looked at me assessingly. She went back over to her desk and sat down. 'My name is Miss. Simon but everyone already knows that since it's on the board. Now let's do role call then get this party started.' She called off ten names before stopping at the seat next to me because apparently 'Tardiness will lead to death.' And I didn't know how to take that so I made a mental note to never be late. But before she got to that disturbing statement this is what happened: 'Christine Daae? Where is she? She knows I do not tolerate students who are late.'

Then a brunette sitting behind me started talking. 'She's at the nurse ma'am.' _Do I really sit next to her in homeroom? Crap. _

'And how would you know that Mis. Giry?'

'Well for one she told me, second I saw her walking towards the nurses office while I was skipping excitedly to this class and third, I'm practically her long lost twin so I know where she is half the time.' She started stabbing her eraser with her nail.

'Well thank you for that unnecessarily long reason why and refraining from any and all sarcastic remarks throughout it. I suggest you bite your tongue before I make you write a 5 page essay on the French Revolution.'

'I love the French Revolution!' She started to sing. 'Do you hear the people sing, singing the song of angry men it is the music of the people who will not be slaves again!' Some of the class laughed a little bit, some rolled their eyes and the rest of us were indifferent.

'Not that silly theatre French Revolution! I want a 5 page essay on the Civil War back to me by tomorrow morning in homeroom.' That offended me beyond words.

'Excuse me Miss. Simon you call yourself a Literary teacher yet you just called Les Miserables a _silly theatre French Revolution._ I don't think you're fit to teach us if you cannot even appreciate the literary art that Victor Hugo gave us. That book is a timeless classic and it should be treated as such along with the musical and movie adaptations.' I heard a couple awww shits, he's fucked and she got told as she turned an unhealthy shade of red.

'Destler go to the office immediately!'

I smirked and grabbed my backpack as I stood up. I bowed towards her as I backed up to the door. 'As you wish Miss. Castro.' I opened the door as I heard applause from the class and left. I started walking to the building that I assumed was the office and was pleased with myself when there was a plaque next to the door that said office on it. I yanked the door opened and strolled up to a desk where a horribly done blonde haired chick sat fiddling with a pencil. 'I'm here from Miss. Simon's class.'

The girl looked up from her pencil at me. 'Ah yes Erik Destler is it? You called her Miss. Castro and told her she was basically unfit to teach? On your first day too. Usually students wait a week or so before referencing her as a dictator. Well take a seat. We'll let you go after homeroom is over.'

I curiously sat down in a chair on the other side of the desk. 'So I'm not in trouble?'

'I course not. Unless she calls her husband, the principal. No one here likes her. She's rude and she thinks everything is the be all end all. She was fired from her last job for that very reason but since her husband is the principal she's here till _she _wants to leave. We get 20+ students from her each week. It's ridiculous!'

'You're not going to call my dad?'

'Nope.' She smiled then went back to playing with her pencil.

_I might just like it here._ I started fidgeting when the nurse and the blo- Christine walked out of what I guessed was the nurses office. 'Take a seat right here Ms. Daae and I'll have Ms. Dunkin go get Mister. De Changy and you two will be seen by the principal.' She nodded and the nurse went over to Ms. Dunkin aka the bad blonde job and informed her of her task.

Once the office aid left the room and the nurse went back into her office Christine looked over at me. _Please don't talk to me. Please don't talk to me. _'What are you doing here?' _Dammit all to hell._

I took a deep breath and looked over at her. 'I uh... told Miss. Simon that she was unfit to teach Literary after she insulted Les Miserables and then I called her Miss. Castro and bowed to her as I left the room.'

She started giggling and she covered her mouth with her hand. 'Oh my God I shouldn't be laughing but that's hilarious!'

'Yeah I guess. This chick got a 5 page essay for informing her of where you were and how she knew where you were.'

'Meg got in trouble for me?'

'No and yes. She said something like how she saw you heading over here as she was skipping excitedly to homeroom and Miss. Simon threatened her with a 5 page essay on the French revolution and she started singing Do You Hear The People Sing and Miss. Simon called it that silly theatre French revolution, she got the 5 page essay and that's when I chimed in.'

'I missed all that?!'

'Yep.'

'Well damn that sucks... I'm Christine.' She held her hand out for me to shake. I looked at it speculatively then took it.

'Erik.'

'I really can't explain how thankful I am for what you did this morning.'

'No worries. I was just doing the right thing. If you don't mind me asking, why are you dating that doofus?'

'I don't know...'

She thought she was a good liar or something but it was obvious. 'Social status.'

'What? I would never...' she crossed her legs and ran her hand through her hair

'It's obvious. He's on the football team based on his jacket and based on his idiocy he's higher on the team. Captain I'm presuming because I can tell he's a special kind of stupid. You from what you're wearing and that he was trying to take you against your will shows that you're not a retarded slut, so that takes you off the cheerleading squad and out of any other popular group. From the condition of the book that's poking out of your backpack you read a lot, readers in habit are quieter especially when reading. You aren't wearing a lot of makeup which shows you care little of other peoples opinions of you. Your friend Meg, she is a dancer and I can tell by her movements and the way she speaks. Plus her knowledge of Les Miserables, yes its a popular thing now but most teenage girls also don't break out into song in homeroom unless comfortable with performing. Which means besides your boyfriend you're friends with a theatre girl and theatre girl + popular girl just doesn't ever happen so it only leaves it at you're using him for slight social acceptance because you're also a theatre girl, but you're not a dancer nope from your posture and the fact that you weren't screaming for help when he had you against the wall I can only assume you sing.'

She stared at me wide eyed for a minute or so. 'What are you fucking Sherlock or something?!'

I couldn't help but laugh a little bit. 'Nope. I move around a lot so it's become a habit of mine to figure people out with simple little things.'

'W-' the door opened and Ms. Dunkin was with De Changy and he immediately laid eyes on me.

'I'm going to murder you.'

I started batting my eyes. 'Oh do be careful I've never been with another person before in such... intimate ways, but for you I'll do anything.' I made a kissy face then turned back around. I leaned over to Christine. 'I think he likes me, can you get me his number?' I saw Ms. Dunkin fight back a laugh along with Christine. I sat back in my chair and started picking at my pants completely oblivious to Mister Special's death glare. The bell rang so I grabbed my backpack and stood up. 'I'll see you tomorrow, Christine.' I went over to the door but stopped when she touched my shoulder.

'Would you like to go to lunch with Meg and I? I'll pay since I owe you for this morning.'

I thought about it for a minute since going home and sulking in silence sounded nice, but Nadir would probably talk my ear off so it was just deciding which would be worse. 'Yeah sure why not.' _What did I just agree to?_

'Cool! Meet us by Miss. Simon's door once the bell rings, okay?'

'Yeah sounds good.' I opened the door and headed out.

**Christine: **

The nurse checked to see if I was injured in anyway before sending me out into the office to wait for Raoul and the principal. I for some reason invited Erik to lunch with Meg and I... he didn't really seem like a people person and I was assuming it was due to his mask. I wasn't going to lie and say I wasn't curious, but I also wasn't going to be rude and stare at it. Once he left I sat down as far away from Raoul as possible and tried to ignore the similar feeling of uneasiness he was causing to surface in me. My mind went back to Erik. I found it incredibly unfair that he knew so much about me while I knew nothing besides his name and that he was somewhat funny. Me always being up for a challenge I made it a goal to break his shell and get to know him. I sat being examined by Raoul for about 5 minutes until finally Mister. Simon came out and told us to get in his office. I understood why the two were married. They were both miserable grouches. I took a seat and moved it closer to the window so I wasn't that close to Raoul. 'So... tell me what happened from your point of view Mister De Changy.' Not really wanting to hear his point of view I looked out the window blocking his voice as well as I could. I must of blanked out because I was snapped out of my trance by the principal asking my side of the story.

'Uh... right yes. Well I guess I should add before talking about this morning that he's been trying to get me to have sex with him for about two months now, and when I'd refuse him he'd storm off and not talk to me for about 5 or 6 days then. So he had been ignoring me this entire week until today when I got a note in my locker from him.'

'I didn't leave her a note. We ran into each other! She's lying.' He smirked at me.

I rolled my eyes and grab the not from out of my back pocket and hand it to Mister. Simon. 'Yeah as I was saying, I got a note from him in my locker asking me to meet up with him behind the school when I got the note. Stupidly I went. When I got there I asked him what he wanted then he told me not to be pissed at him. I ignored the comment and asked him what he wanted once again and he just said you. He had me pinned against the wall and I couldn't get him off. Apparently since we've been dating for a year I owe him. I called him a spoiled brat and after several attempts to get free I gave up. His hand was down my pants and then Erik asked him to step away from me. Raoul called him a freak, and looked back at me and Erik asked him again, but Raoul didn't so he shoved him off of me. He was seeing if I was alright when Raoul started to get up and tried to punch Erik. He avoided all the punches and finally did this hand granny thing and brought his arm behind his back and shoved him against the wall. After Raoul agreed to leave Erik let him go and Raoul ran off. I thanked Erik then went to the nurse.'

He finished writing down something on his notepad then looked up at me. 'So what you're saying is De Changy tried to force himself on you?'

'Yeah pretty much.'

'And this Erik character... saw everything?'

'Well I don't know I was a little busy to be looking at the scenery.'

'Right, well what's his last name?'

'I don't know, he didn't tell me. I do know he's in your wife's homeroom class with me.'

'Right, well I'm going to call him down here for his side of the story. If your story is true are you going to want to press charges against him?'

'As tempting as that sounds, no. I just want to get back to my classes.'

He stood up and went over to a filing cabinet. 'Well if your story is accurate Ms. Daae, Mister De Changy will have in school suspension up until winter break, he will be moved to B side so you two won't have any classes together and every single teacher on this campus will know he is not to speak or go near you on campus. Plus it'll go on his permanent record of what he did to you.' He pulled out a folder and tossed it on his desk then closed the filing cabinet. 'And if De Changy's story is true the same goes for you except... yeah the same will go for you.' He sat back down in his chair and flipped open the file then started to dial a number. 'Yes Peter it's L- Mister. Simon I need you to send Erik Destler up to my office immediately please... alright thank you and make sure to inform him that he isn't in any type of trouble.' He hung the phone up and sat back in his chair.

'Mister. Simon why ISS and not OSS?' Raoul leaned forward and took his jacket off.

'Because, I've met your parents and they don't care what you do. I'll basically be giving you a three week head start on Christmas vacation, but in ISS you get to sit in a room all day and study, you leave to get food but go immediately back. There's a bathroom in there so you don't even get to leave to use the restroom. Forget something out of your locker? We'll send someone to get it for you.' I couldn't help but smile to myself as I looked out of the window at how cynical Mister. Simon could be. A minute or so went by until Erik walked into the room and looked confused until he saw the two of us.

**Erik:**

'So... I was called upon?' I took the seat closest to the door.

'Yes, Miss. Daae says you helped her today?'

I pursed my lips and looked at the ceiling for a moment. 'Yeah. Indeed I did.'

'Well can you tell me your side of the story please?' He picked his pencil up and prepared to write.

'Yeah sure. So for obvious reasons I went to the back of the school to get to class so I wouldn't get stared at and after a minute or so of walking I turned the corner and saw a couple of students talking so I went back around the corner. I peeked to see if they were gone but saw the short blonde girl, who I now know as Christine trying to push the guy-' he pointed at Raoul. 'Off of her. I had considered turning a blind eye and dealing with the stares of students or doing the right thing and helping Christine out. Deciding the latter I set my backpack down and started to walk over to them. As I walked towards them the girl, Christine, started to give up and within seconds the dude had his hands down her pants. I reached them and tapped on the guys shoulder. He turned to me and said. 'Piss off freak.'

I laughed a little when he turned back to the Christine and tapped on his shoulder again and said. 'Really? So not only are you desperate, but you also like to state the obvious. You have a lot going for ya buddy. But from the looks of it she really doesn't want your hands on her so I suggest you _piss off._' He _once _again turned back to Christine. I grabbed him by the shoulders and yanked him off of her. He fell on his back but quickly looked back up to me.

He said: 'What the hell? Leave me and my girlfriend alone freak!'

I kneeled down next to him and said. 'Like I said captain obvious, she doesn't want to be touched by you. So not only can you state the obvious repeatedly, you're desperate BUT you're completely oblivious to threats who aren't even a foot away from you! You're pro list keeps getting bigger. I think even I might be falling for you.' I batted my eyes then stood up to check on Christine. I said: 'You okay?' She nodded her head. 'Maybe you should go to the nurse.' Her eyes looked away from me and widened. I tilted my head back and sighed. 'He's getting up isn't he?' She nodded once again and I quickly turned just in time to step out of the shaky punch he threw at me then said: 'Golly I have boys lining up for me today and I haven't even been here 30 minutes. Although my current seeeeker.' I had barely ducked from a better aimed punch then said. 'Is quite pathetic, I'll take what I can get.' I grabbed the guys fist and twisted it and brought it behind his back then I pushed him face first against the wall making sure to avoid Christine and kissed his cheek. I did this fake female country accent and said. 'What a handsome young man! Oh I thought I'd have spend my dowry on booze and pills to numb the loneliness!' Christine laughed a laugh a little spite everything going on at the moment. I said. 'Are you going to go now? It's my first day and I'd hate to be late. First impressions are everything you know. Well obviously you do because you've just bout got me love struck!'

He said: 'Let me go!' His voice was somewhat muffled so I leaned closer to hear him better.

'Sorry what was that? You'd leave this girl alone if I promise not to break your arm? Well I think that sounds fair, don't you?' I looked over at Christine who shook her head yes, but heard nothing from the boy so I tightened my grip on him.

He squealed then screamed. 'Alright! I'll go just let me go!' I said 'Ahh... wise child.' I pulled him away from the wall and turned him to the left then pushed him away from the two of us. He went running I turned to Christine and said: 'I guess you should head to the nurse.' I took a deep breath. 'And the rest of our conversation is useless.'

'So you used violent force against him?'

I sat there for a moment dumbfounded by the question. 'Nope! I talked him out of it by talking to him about rainbows and unicorns!'

'What made you feel the need to use violent force on him?'

I itched the left side of my jaw and thought for a moment how to word the next thing I was going to say properly. 'Well...' I itched my side. 'He was about to rape her so I think that was it.'

He looked at me and narrowed his eyes in an examining way. 'Are you sure it wasn't about something deeper?'

_Yeah fuck this. _I stood up and in the process sent the chair to the floor. 'Are you kidding me?! I saved your ass from having yourself known as the principal who was running the school where that one chick got raped, and you're trying to bring my mental issues and stability into this?! What are you the fucking school guidance counselor or something? She was being held against a wall and touched against her will, I _tried _talking to him before touching him, or did that go right through your left ear and out the right?!'

'Son sit down at once!'

'Why should I? Maybe I don't want to sit down _because of a deeper issue.' _I opened the door and looked over at Christine then slammed the door behind me. I wasn't coming back to this school. No fuck that. I went back over to the back of the school and hopped the fence to get out. I jogged over to my car and got in not really sure where to go. In any other situation I'd be freaking out about my dad finding out but he'd probably come kick Simon's himself and let me record it. I turned the car on deciding to go exploring before sneaking back at noon to meet Christine and her friend Sam- wait no Meg for lunch. I found my way onto a major freeway and headed West and got off at this road called Verrado way or something like that. It was just a giant housing community that was severely over priced with a couple little shops. I drove west through the community hoping to come up on the mountain... what was it called... dad told me the name of it because he said tomorrow we'd go hiking in the morning since we both had the day's off. I didn't understand starting school on a Friday but who am I to complain? After an hour or so of looking for the damned mountain trail I gave up and decided to go to the little grocery store they had to pick up something to drink. I magically found my way out of the networks of houses and parks and into the downtown area thing they had. I pulled into a parking spot in front of the store and grabbed some of Nazi's 'secret' cash stash he had in there before getting out.

**Christine:**

_Did principal Simon just do that? Wow I want to strangle him right now! _I crossed my arms and pursed my lips while looking at him babble like a moron. 'Principal Simon can I go to class now? I don't think you need me to give Raoul his punishment.'

'And how do I know your guy's stories are the real stories?'

I looked at him before bursting out laughing. 'Oh crap... you've caught us. A guy that I literally have known for 10 minutes and I thought of this so that I wouldn't have to break up with Raoul. You've nailed it on the head principal Simon... oh why aren't you a detective? I think you would do well.' I got up and grabbed my backpack. 'Forget this whole thing since you for some reason are finding any excuse not to punish Raoul. So I'll be transferring schools as soon as possible, Raoul we're through if you haven't figured it out by now. Peace out!' I walked over to the door and opened it. I stepped out into the hallway and closed the door behind me. I left the office and went over to science class where Meg was and went over to the window where either of us would go incase we needed one another. I tapped on the glass lightly and Meg looked up over at me. She nodded and I went to the girls bathroom where she'd meet me sooner or later. I pulled my phone out and dialed my dad's number. After a couple rings picked up.

'_Yes Chris?'_

'Hey dad I'm just calling to tell you that if the school calls to tell you I've skipped class don't worry because it's true but only because I'm transferring to Verrado because the principal here is a dimwit.'

'_What happened?'_

'I'd prefer not to talk about it, but if it makes you feel any better I was on the receiving end of it but the principal refused to believe me.'

_'I'll come down and talk to him later.'_

'No dad I just want to transfer schools. Please...'

_'We'll talk about it over the weekend alright? Get back to class.'_

'Fine and maybe.' I hung up the phone and started pacing waiting for Meg. I heard the bathroom door open and then get locked. A second later Meg came into view.

'What's wrong Chris?'

'I'm transferring schools. I can't stand principal Simon and it's just fucking bullshit.' I kicked a stall door.

'Wait no you can't! I need you!'

'Yeah well I can't fucking stay here with a principal who wouldn't believe me when I told him what Raoul tried to do to me! Even with Erik's story being the same as mine!'

'Erik? Masked Erik who told Miss. Castro that she wasn't fit to teach? Wait a minute what'd Raoul do to you?! I'll kick his ass so hard that I'll be kicked out of school and I can join you at Verrado! It's perfect!'

'Yeah that Erik. If he comes back I invited him to lunch with us today, is that cool?'

'Yes! I wanted to give him more applause! Everyone is calling her Miss. Castro now! It's hilarious.'

'That's pretty awesome. Do you want to go up to the Bashas in Verrado and hang out with my brother until it's time to meet up with Erik?'

'My mom will murder me and we won't be able to go see Thor. Which would you rather do?'

'How about you go tell Miss. Rathinburg that I'm puking and my dad can't here so you need to take me home.'

She tapped her chin then hurried out of the bathroom. I couldn't help but laugh. I started pacing the bathroom until Meg came back with her things. We left the bathroom and went over to the front gate but was stopped by some Indian or middle eastern guy. 'Hey Meg where are you going?' I mouthed at her 'Who's that?'

'Yeah uh my friend Christine here is sick so I'm driving her home. Where are you off to?'

He pointed to the office door. 'Apparently my brother bailed and they think I'll know where he is for some reason. He never tells me shit. I'm Nadir by the way.' He held his hand out but then took it back. 'I'll give you three handshakes when you feel better.' He smiled at me.

'I'm Christine. You must be new here... we have a lot of new kids today don't we Meg?'

'Yeah, you know Miss. Castro? This new kid called Erik gave her that nickname not even two hours ago. He's hilarious.'

He ran his hand over his face and into his hair. 'Is his last name Destler by any chance?'

I spoke up. 'Yeah why?'

'He's my brother. Do you guys have any idea why he left?'

Meg and I looking confused and both said: 'But you two-'

'Adopted.' He pointed at himself and Meg and I nodded in understanding. 'So, any idea?'

'Yeah. I know why. It's a long story and you might just have him tell you when you see him next. Oh by the way do you have his number?'

He looked at me curiously. 'Yeah...why?'

I thought up the best excuse a person could think of in 5 seconds. 'He gave me it but I lost it, and since he's unaccounted for I can't ask for it again.'

'He gave you... his number?' He pulled his phone out of his back pocket and opened it.

'Yeah... you sound surprised.' I unlocked my phone and pulled up a new contact waiting for the number to be read off to me.

'Erik's not what you call a people person. If he murders me I'm haunting your ass. 983-772-3591.'

I put in the number then added his name. I smiled as it saved. 'Deal.' Well I feel like I'm gonna hurl so we need to go. Nice meeting you Nadir.' I turned and ran to the gate and jumped so I could get my feet on the bar I needed to. I swung my leg over onto the other side then the other. I plopped down and pulled my shirt down so it wasn't up to my bra. I pulled my keys out and waited for Meg. Once she was down we bolted past the front office door and over to my car. I quickly put my backpack in the backseat then got in the front. I turned the car on and buckled my seatbelt while waiting for Meg to do the same. Once she was buckled I backed out of the parking space and headed west to where my brother worked. I handed Meg my phone. 'Call Erik for me would you? And put it on speaker.'

Meg found his contact and pressed the call button along with the speaker button. After a minute he picked up. _'Hello?' _

'Hey Erik, its me Christine.'

'_Oh hey... how'd you get my number?'_

'Uh Meg apparently knows Nadir and he was on his way to the office because you bailed and I lied to him telling him you gave me your number but I lost it.'

_'Sneaky.'_

'I wouldn't call it sneaky...'

_'Wait are you at school?'_

'No fuck that place. I'm transferring to a high school closer to where I live. The principal said he has no way of knowing if we were the ones telling the truth or not.'

_'Are you fucking kidding me?'_

'Yeah. So I'm not going to be around anymore.'

_'Oh don't worry, do you think I'm staying there after what he said to me? Hell no. I'm transferring to some place else that I don't know yet. I can't wait to tell my dad what went down today so he can go kick the principal's ass.'_

'What does your dad do?'

_'He's a really important captain in the Airforce. I'm not 100% really I just know we move a lot because of it.'_

'Oh... well that's cool. Are we still on for lunch today? I was hyping myself up for hot wing pizza.'

_'Yeah of course. Well actually I don't have a single clue where I am. I... actually funny story I got off at Verrado way or something like that and now I'm in a grocery store buying water because I'm lost in the middle of a desert.'_

'Is it called Bashas?'

_'Yeah that's it!'_

'Just hold on Meg and I are pretty much there.'

_'Alright. I think the employees think I'm going to shoot the place up so any hurrying would be appreciated.' _

'You got it... turning into the parking lot now.'

_'Alright.'_

'Bye.'

_'Goodbye Madame Daae.'_

I pulled the car keys out of the ignition and grabbed my purse from inside my backpack. 'Les go.'

'He has a hot voice.' She grabbed her purse as well and then hopped out of the car and joined me by my side.

'Yeah I guess it is pretty nice.' We walked inside.

'If I could have sex with his voice I totally would.'

I laughed a bit as we turned the corner and found Erik scoping out the doughnuts. 'I bet you would Meg.' I tapped his shoulder and smiled. 'Hello.'

'Oh hey. Are they're doughnuts any good?' He turned to look at the two of us.

'Yeah this one is my favorite.' I pointed at a chocolate icing filled doughnut topped with chocolate then topped with more chocolate icing.

'That looks like diabetes in a 3 inch circle... I'm down.'

'Mmm now I want one. Hang on let me get my brother. I get free doughnuts every once and awhile.' I tapped the bell five times to let him know it was me. My brother, Norman walked out of the back with his hair in a hair net which was always a beautiful sight.

'What are you doing here? Don't you have school?' He finished filling a doughnut and then put it in the case.

'I skipped. The principal pissed me off and threatened to give me ISS until winter break for being on the receiving end of some harassment. Even when Erik and I both had the same stories he was leaning towards Raoul's side. Oh by the way, Erik this is Norman, Norman this is Erik.' The just kinda nodded and said sup. I don't understand guys half the time.

'What'd Raoul do to you? I have no problem going to jail.'

'Yeah I'll think about telling you if you give me three doughnut pwease.' I gave him my famous puppy dog face.

He glared at me then grabbed a bag. 'Fine! But only because you've had a bad day. What do you guys want?'

'Two of my favorite and then whatever Meg wants since she's a bipolar doughnut eater.'

'Oh bite my Chris.' She stuck her tongue out at me then turned her attention to the doughnut case.

I looked over at Erik who was picking at his water bottle label. 'So what school are you going to try to transfer to?'

'I have no clue. What other schools are there?' He frowned when the label lifted finally.

'Well… there's Verrado high school, Agua Fria, Dysart annnnd there's White Tank but that's more of a 'You've been kicked out of every other high school' school.'

'And you're going to try and get into Verrado?'

'Yeah I'm like 5 to 10 minutes from it. I'm only going to Millennium because Meg wanted to go there.' I looked over at Meg to see she was still decided and Norman was about to rip her head off. I smiled and returned to our conversation.

'Well I live on like Colter or something like that? I don't remember. Do I have a chance of getting in?'

'Well where on Colter? Because colter goes through Jackrabbit, Verrado way, Camelback, Thomas, Mcdowell and a lot more than that but those are the closest ones.'

'Uhh does Jackrabbit have a lot of dirt and horses along the road?'

'Indeed it does.'

'I think it's Jackrabbit and Colter then.'

'Well howdy neighbor! I saw a moving truck this week but I didn't have time to find out who just moved and and to make them brownies, but now I don't have to. I'm getting him some free diabetes.' I was going to put my arm over his shoulder for dramatic effect but I didn't want to impose on his personal bubble.

'Wait you live near me?'

'Well I live on Colter and I have to go down Jackrabbit to get there.'

'Well that's cool. I'll probably only be here for six months, so _as hard_ at it will be don't start to enjoy my company or anything like that.' He smirked and looked down at me in the corner of his eye.

'You give much such impossible tasks!' I put my hand on my forehead and closed my eyes. I went back to being normal when my phone started ringing. I grabbed it and put it up to my ear. 'Hey dad.'

_'Well I see you've skipped school.'_

'Yeah! If I don't transfer schools I'm going to get ISS until winter break and you know how that'll fuck my chances of keeping my scholarship.'

_'And skipping school won't?'_

'Yeah that doesn't go on your record.'

_'I guess you have a point. Well I'll let you off the hook this one time since you never do anything stupid. Anyway I was calling to tell you that I won't be home till tomorrow morning. It's going to be another late night at the office.'_

My heart sank and my eyes started watering. 'Oh... alright. That's fine I guess I'll see you tomorrow morning then.'

_'I'm sorry Chris we'll go get some breakfast when I get home. Sound good?'_

'Yeah. Well I need to go I'm with Norman. Bye love you.' I hung up the phone and put it back in my purse.

'Dad working late again?' He the bag of doughnuts on the counter and looked at me sympathetically.

'What made you guess that?' I grabbed the bag.

'It's dad.' He shrugged his shoulders and closed the case. 'He was never home when I was little and mom was still around, and then when she died he just hired a babysitter. Nothing changed except he was gone for days instead of just all night. I'd throw a party or something. That's what I'd do when he'd be working late.'

'Oh yeah such a crazy party with Meg and Erik if he even wanted to come... would you buy us booze?'

'Will you give me any and all keys? I'll give them back to you guys in the morning.'

'Well Meg will be brought over by me so you'll just have to confiscate my keys. I don't know if Erik even wants to party with us party animals.'

He narrowed his eyes in contemplation. 'Will there be beer pong?'

My brother cut in, 'If you guys are drinking there's going to be beer pong. I will die before letting my little sister throw that lame of a party. I get off at seven so tell me what you guys want and I'll bring it by the house.'

I squealed in excitement. 'Beer and lots of it, Meg likes tequila and whatever Erik wants.'

He sighed and massaged his temples. 'How does Meg even know- you know what nevermind. I don't want to know. Specific brands that don't cost an arm and a leg?'

'Blue Moon and what do you like Meg?'

'Triple Sec!'

'Alright. What do you want or do their requests sound good?' He had the _fuck this shit _look on his face.

'Beer sounds good.'

'Alright.' He tapped the counter with his fingers. 'Well duty calls so you guys go and have fun. Don't get into more trouble than you already are please.'

'Will do. Tell Sammi I'll be over tomorrow at six to do her hair.'

'Okay I will. Bye.' The three of us went over to the cashier and waited for Erik to buy his water.

I handed Meg the bag and went over to Erik just now realizing how tall he really was. 'So Erik, you don't have to come if you don't want to, but if you do want to come you can invite Nadir.'

'No if you guys want me there I'll come, but don't invite me just because you're being nice and you feel obligated to or something like that. I don't mean to sound rude but I mean it.' He took his change from the cashier and turned to look at me.

'No I completely understand. I'm inviting you because despite what he did to me today, you've made me laugh and I'd like to hang out with you and Nadir. Don't tell either of them I told you this, but I think Meg thinks he's hot.'

He made a sour face. 'Gross.'

I couldn't help but giggle as we walked over to Meg and she looked at us suspiciously. 'What'r you laughing at?'

'Your sex life.' I grabbed the doughnuts before she could use them against me and bolted for the door. I looked over my shoulder and saw Meg chasing me and Erik laughing. I screamed and squeezed through the gap in between the sliding doors then grabbed my keys from my back pocket. I unlocked my car and got in and locked the doors before Meg could get me. She ran up to the window and started banging on the glass. Erik calmly walked up to the passenger side and tapped on the glass.

'Chocolate diabetes please.' It was a bit muffled but I got the gist. I leaned over and unlocked the door so he could get in. Meg started to round over to his side but he got in and locked the door a split second before she got to the handle.

I held the bag out for him. 'So how long are you going to let her stand out there?' He grabbed the doughnut from the bag.

'Eh probably until she doesn't want to murder me, and when I'm done with my doughnut. So do you want to ride with us or just follow me to the pizza place?' I grabbed my doughnut from the bag and started drooling at the thought of eating the beauty.

'I'll follow you since I have to pick up Nadir. When does school there end?' He awkwardly licked the dollop of chocolate icing off the top of the doughnut.

'3:30 and it's 11 so we have some time.' I took a bite then tried to lick some icing off my nose before giving up and wiping it off.

'I'll just take my car just in case.' He looked at the doughnut in deep thought before taking a bite. We sat there and ate our doughnuts in silence while Meg was outside banging on the windows. I saw her from the corner of my eye running at my car with a giant rock. Knowing she wouldn't do anything I rolled down all the windows with my free hand and looked at her as she fell face first into the backseat, rock in hand. I looked into the back seat to make sure she was still breathing. 'You k?' She pulled herself the rest of the way in and rolled onto the floorboard. She opened her eyes and flipped me off before sitting up and tossing the rock out the window. 'Right well here you a-' I started choking when Meg wrapped her hands around my neck and tightened her grip. I grabbed at her hands trying to yank them away. 'Help... call... 911... crazed... ballet dancer... flipped... her shit...' Meg tried to tighten her grip but ended up laughing. 'Well...' I caught my breath and rolled my eyes when my voice was croaky. 'I was going to give you your doughnut but now I think I'll keep it. See what happens when you try and murder me. What kind did you get?' I pulled her powdered sugar coated doughnut out of the back and eyed it before starting to lick it. I looked over at Erik who looked mortified and somewhat confused. I brought my tongue back into my mouth and handed Meg her doughnut. 'Where not crazy. I kinda promise.'

He put his hands up in defense. 'I'm not judging.'

'Well this is pretty much everyday life for Meg and I, and once we party together, there's no getting rid of us. Kinda like… wait no… I don't know. Point is we become like overly attached friends.'

'Having entertaining friends for once would be nice… hell having friends would be nice.' His facial expression darkened I decided to change to a different subject.

I took the last bite of my doughnut then clapped my hands together. 'Well, as much as I'm down for you taking your own car I'm kidnapping you.' I pressed down on the gas before he could jump out of the car.

'Woah Chris I'm laying on the floor board here!'

I sympathetically looked in the rear view mirror even though I wouldn't see her. 'I'm sorry did my kidnapping plans interrupt your laying in my car which is the vessel for kidnapping good ol' Erik?'

'As a matter of fact it did!'

I started laughing over Erik's facial expression as Meg and I began bickering over kidnapping him. 'Meg I will pull this car around so help me god! We will go to Disneyland once you learn how to behave!'

She shot up from her lying position and leaned into the front seat. 'DISNEYLAND!? DISSSSSSSNEEYLANDD!' She started screaming like a banshee then her voice cracked making me laugh so hard I started to snort. I covered my mouth and nose and tried to hide my face because I was blushing from embarrassment.

Luckily we were at a red light when all this happened but I don't think that helped calm Erik down because he had his arms and legs pushed up against the window and dash and he was mumbling: 'I'm gonna die… I'm gonna die...' which made me laugh even harder. When the light turned green I composed myself as much as I could as I stepped on the gas. When we got to the pizza place Erik practically jumped out of the car then turned to me. 'Don't ever kidnap me again for the love of all that is holy in this world!' He tried to keep a straight face but ended up laughing along with Meg and I as we got out of the car. Meg and I linked arms as we walked up to Erik and I offered mine to him so he wouldn't feel left out. He looked at my arm like it was a foreign object for a moment then slowly linked his arm with mine. He was visibly tense but it was all in my plan to crack open his shell of his. We walked into the building without unlinking our arms (which took tremendous skill in my opinion and walked up to the counter. I broke apart from them to open my purse to grabbed my cash. The manager who I was friends with since Norman used to work here which meant free pizza walked from the back.

'Hello ladies...' he was taken back by Erik and to my annoyance kept glancing at Erik's mask.'And gentlemen what can I get for you guys today?'

'Well to start off I'd like a small salad and… that's all I know...' I turned to the two people next to me. 'What do you guys want?'

Erik picked at his sleeve cuff to give himself something to do. 'Whatever you guys get is delicious to me… except anchovies.'

Knowing breaking his shell wasn't going to happen in less than an hour I just went with what he said and Meg finally decided. 'Hot wing and cinnamon breadsticks.'

'Okay we'll take an extra large hot wing pizza and-' I turned to look at Meg. 'You just ate a doughnut! No cinnamon breadsticks for you.' I turned back to the manager, Liam. 'And three small drinks unless someone else would like to be my salad buddy.'

'I'm trying to gain some weight so I look more human so I can only eat things that'll make me fat.' He held his arm out and wiggled it to show there was no fat to shake. I realized how skinny he was and wondered just how he managed to overpower Raoul's ass when he's as thin as me, possibly smaller. Which was unnerving when he was at least 6 foot 3, and _I _was unhealthily skinny. I looked over at Meg who shook her head in rejection for my offer.

'Well I guess that'll be it then.'

'Well that's going to be 19.24.'

I stopped mid count and looked at Liam. 'You sure? That sounds cheap.'

'Since you come here practically every week and you're in highschool and can use every penny I gave you the employee family discount.'

Shocked that he was being nice I handed him a twenty. 'Thank you.'

'No problem.' He took the bill from me and put it in the cash register then handed me my change. 'Your pizza will be out soon.' He put a number stick thing and Meg grabbed it while I dumped the change into my purse and grabbed my salad bowl along with the drinks.

I held the stack out to Erik as an offering. 'Here you are sir.'

He added a heavy stereotypical German accent to his voice. 'Shaaaank you!' He grabbed a cup and went over to the soda machine and I handed Meg the stack so she could take her's as well. Once we all got our drinks, and for me my salad, we sat down in a booth in the back room incase we got rambunctious. We decided that Erik would be trapped between us girls incase we needed to be protected from the… wall. Not really knowing what to talk about they just kinda metaphorically picked their noses while I ate my rabbit food. We made small talk here and there and Meg and I would occasionally bicker in good humor while Erik sat back and watched.

About 20 minutes later Liam came by with the pizza. 'Here you guys are.' He set the pan down along with three plates and three ranches. 'So.' He put the oven mit under his arm. 'How's Raoul lately Christine? I haven't seem him in a few months.' I put some hair behind my ear and looked down at my hands not really knowing what to say.

'He had a slight genitalia accident per say.' I looked up to see Erik looking sympathetic but knew there was going to be a catch to it. 'Yeah… we were all so sure he was a guy, but he finally came out and admitted that he was a va- I mean had a vagina. He's been happier but some of the meaner kids at school have been bullying poor ol' Raoul so he transferred schools.

And Liam being Liam disregarded the entire story while Meg and I were finding it outrageously funny for some odd reason. I looked at Erik with curiosity. 'So who's this Christine?'

'Oh!' I pointed at Erik with my hand then over to Liam. 'Liam this is Erik, Erik this is Liam.' Liam went to put his hand out but stopped when he saw the slight shake in my head indicating it wasn't all that great of an idea.

He brought his arm back to his side. 'Right, well good to meet you, Erik.'

'Likewise.' He did the head nod thing that I'd have to think of a name for and smirked.

'Well enjoy.' He backed away from the table then turned to go back into the kitchen through a flippy door.

I grabbed the slicer/server thing and put a slice on Meg and Erik's plate before serving myself. I turned my attention to Erik to see his reaction to the deathly hot pizza while Meg was chugging on her Sprite like nobodies business. He took a bite and his expression remained the same. He noticed Meg and I were starting at him in amazement. He shrugged his shoulders and looked at the both of us. 'What?'

'How are you not dying?!' I took a sip of Coke then set my cup back down.

'What were you guys trying to poison me?' He took another bite.

'No but it's crazy hot! And with your speculation of us trying to poison you why'd you take another bite?' I pulled my hair up into a pony tail.

'Because it's good poison if you are, but either way, nothing is spicy to me.'

Adding that to my list of things to do, I became bound and determined to find something that would make him shit fire. 'This isn't over Destler.'

He looked up from his pizza in midchew. 'Wot?'

'Oh nothing.' I nonchalantly took a bite of my pizza and tried not to find a bowl of water and dunk my face into it. I started to cross my eyes when Meg started to laugh almost choking on the bite of pizza she took but successfully lived through it. I began to cough and sputter a bit until finally I caved and drank my entire cup of Coke. I sent daggers to Meg and Erik who found my near death experience funny. 'So.' I coughed and cleared my throat. 'Party tonight, what's the plan?'

'Well... my goal was to get shitfaced then regret it all weekend, but that was _my_ plan.' Meg took another bite of her pizza.

'Damn that sucks.' Meg and I looked at Erik. 'I was hoping we'd wear matching pajamas, paint our toes, have a mild pillow fight then knit while watching Sex In The City. There went my exciting Friday night!' He tossed his pizza onto his plate out of playful annoyance. Meg and I bit our tongues to attempt to hold back the fit giggles. Through the rest of the meal we got to find out a couple things about Erik and visa vera. He had just moved from Atlantic, Georgia, he was planning on getting a degree in musical arts like Meg and I which I thought was cool. His favorite color is black (like he had to say?), he turned 17 back on September 28th and that's why he's in year 11 instead of year 12, Nadir was adopted when he was 7 because his father firmly believed he needed a brother and a friend, his dad is a single father and apparently his mother died in a car crash but the face and the tone he spoke of her in made me think otherwise, besides that he didn't let much up. I could tell he prepared to listen than to be in the center of attention so I told him a little about myself. I told him my dad was also a single dad, I have my brother Norman but he's 10 years older than me so I'm more of a single child. My favorite color is dark purple, I was born February 1st so I turned 16 this year, I've lived in Phoenix my whole life, I too wanted a musical arts degree, my mother died of an a stroke when I was a month old so I don't remember her, Meg and I practically grew up together and that her mother, Anne was like a mother to me. Meg on the other hand was an open book. She was 16 as well, she turned 16 on January 5th so she's older than me which she loves to rub in my face, she was going to become a dancer but she was getting a degree in Musical Art just in case it'll help her score a job, her mom was a dancer just like her until her father died 6 years ago from cancer and from then on she stopped and focused on helping her daughter Meg become a better dancer in memory of her deceased husband, and despite what I say she has a healthy sex life, her favorite color is blue, not a certain blue, just any blue, she's a natural blonde but decided to go brunette and she has no intent to go back to blonde, that's why she has green eyes and brown hair, her favorite season is winter, she's lived in Phoenix all her life as well, she has a pet snake, her guilty pleasure band is Get Scared which supposedly is a gothic/screamo band or something like that so I didn't pay much attention to her antics on the band, she can't stand One Direction for some reason, its not that I'm a fan I just don't know why people are so annoyed by them, she loves grapes, hates cauliflower and her life long goal is to dance at the Paris opera house, Palais Garnier.

I pulled my phone out to check the time and saw that it was 3. 'Oh crap we better go so you can go pick up Nadir.' I got up and picked my purse up off the booth seat so Erik could get up. While the two were collecting themselves I went and got a small box for the pizza that was left. I put the remaining four slices in the box and grabbed my drink not wanting to part from it. I put the box to my side and popped my lid off to get more Coke. Successfully not making a mess I put the lid back on and met the two at the entrance. Erik pushed his back onto the door and pushed it open. Meg and I walked outside and thanked Erik. I looked up at the sky and smiled at the smell of rain and the dark clouds forming over head.

I took a deep breath taking in the smell until Erik put his hand nervously on my shoulder waking me up from my trance. 'You alright?'

'Oh yeah right sorry, just enjoying the weather while its here.' I sighed as we made our way over to the car. Meg got in the back seat for some reason leaving Erik the passenger seat. We got in and I handed him the CD case while I turned the car on. 'You can pick the music since we, well _I _kidnapped you.' He smirked and unzipped it to begin looking through the CD's. He raised his eyebrows and glanced over at me when he saw my collection of Fall Out Boy CD's. 'What they're catchy!' I sat back and crossed my arms.

He chuckled and put their Save Rock and Roll CD in and Meg groaned. 'You've might as well put in the Love Never Dies soundtrack. She sings _every-single-song.' _ She put her jacket over her head and laid across the back seat.

Erik scrunched his face up. 'Love Never Dies? You like that musical?'

I violently shook my head. 'Hell no. I like some of the music, but the plot is thinner than me. Complete crap, and Andrew should be ashamed himself.'

'She gets off on Ramin Karimloo's voice.' Meg rolled onto her side when she saw that I wasn't singing yet.

I pulled out of the spot and stopped in the driveway to pull out onto the road. 'She's lying.'

Meg got up and brought her head up to the front. 'She'd sex him so hard. I think I might have a video of her saying so on my phone...' She reached over for her purse.

'Oh you wouldn't.' I glared at her in the rear view mirror.

'Oh yes I would.' She grabbed her phone out of her purse.

'Meg please don't! Not only is it completely embarrassing, but I also haven't done anything to deserve this!' We stopped at a red light.

'Doing it! You won't expect it when I do it, but I will. Mark my words.' She sat back in the chair and put her phone back in her purse. I let out the breath I had been holding as I got onto the freeway. Just to annoy Meg I started singing along to Young Volcanoes as loud as I could since the windows were down. I looked in the rearview mirror and saw she was laying with her jacket over her head. I looked over at Erik in quick glances and noticed he was half smiling at me. He really tried to look creepy and unfriendly but in reality if you even spent just an hour with him you'd know it was all an act. He had unmistakable sadness in his eyes that I could partially recognize. He looked away and I saw his visible cheek turn a light shade of red. He had long enough hair that it was blowing around in the wind so it made the blushing look adorable. I got off at Jackrabbit and past by the highschool I'd hopefully soon be going to and stopped at the red light. I looked over at the highschool and caught a glimpse of him with his wind kissed hair and he licked his lower lip and bit it after. I don't care who does that, its on my list of hot things a guy does. A couple minutes later Erik was with his car and had left to picked up Nadir, leaving Meg and I to get ready for the party.


	3. That Party Where Everything Goes Wrong

**Authors note: OH MY GOD RAMIN AND THE WHOLE CAST WAS SOOO GOOD SWEET BABY JESUS GO SEE IT IF YOU CAN!**

**Erik:**

'What the hell were you thinking Erik?!' I shot up from my seat on the couch when I heard the front door slam and my dad walk through. I met him in the hallway prepared to say anything to save my ass.

'Dad let me explain what happened before you tear me apart okay?' I could tell he wasn't in the mood for listening but what the hell, right?

'There is NO excuse for skipping school within the first two hours! Jesus Erik you never skip school!' He yanked his uniform hat off and tossed it on the counter.

I put my hands in my pockets and started rocking on my feet. 'You wanna let me explain my perfectly good reason? I'm sure your vocal cords will appreciate it.'

'Fine! Five minutes and if your reason isn't good enough you will never see the light of day again until you're eighteen and living on your own!'

'I shouldn't even be telling you since she didn't even tell her best friend, who she's known all her life so if you ever _do _meet her don't tell her I told you. I was walking behind the school to avoid the stares when I turned the corner to see this dude and chick, who shall remain nameless talking. So I went back behind the corner and then a minute later I saw him pushing her against the wall and his hand down her pants and so I went over there and asked him to stop because she was trying to get him off by the time I got over there, but anyway I asked him a couple times nicely before yanking him off of her. He kept trying to punch me and I finally twisted his arm and shoved him against the wall. Once he said he'd leave I let him go and the chick thanked me and went to the nurse. Go forward to second period I was called to the principals office for my side of the story and so I gave him my story and you want to know what he said? That maybe there was a _deeper _issue behind why I fucking hit him! It pissed me off so I stormed out and left. I wasn't going to stay at a school where the principal brought my freaking mental stability into it when I stooped a chick from being raped!'

'He really said that to you? And you're saying she was almost raped and yet she's not pressing charges against the guy?' He crossed his arms over his chest and narrowed his eyes at me.

'She just wanted to move on and go to class, but she skipped too because apparently the principal sided with the guy and he was going to give her ISS until winter break. Yes he did say that to me, so I want to transfer to a different school.' I grabbed an Apple out of the bowl on the counter.

'Wow I see why you skipped... why is he allowed to be a principal when he sides with the one where it's two against one and the one, is the assaultee? As much as I'd like to let

you it's the closest highschool, Erik.'

'Exactly! That's what I was thinking too! She told me there's one 5 minutes or less from here.'

'Well we'll talk more about it over the weekend, and I'll go to one of the schools on Monday, deal?'

'Alright. Well I gotta go. I'll be down the street for the night.' I set the apple down and put my keys on the counter.

'Doing what?'

'I uh made a couple of friends today, and they invited Nadir and I to come over and watch some movies tonight.'

'Are they girls? Is one of them specifically that girl you helped this morning?'

'Possibly. What are you trying to get at here?'

'Just don't do anything stupid Erik.' He opened the fridge and pulled out a gallon of milk.

'What makes you think I would? The girl got molested and almost raped today. I'm not that messed up and or desperate. I'll be here tomorrow morning for the hike.'

'So it is the girl you helped today.' He smirked as he poured a glass of milk. 'And don't worry, if you aren't here then that's fine. I'm just happy that you've made some friends.'

'Thanks dad.' I went over to Nadir in the living room. 'Ready to go?'

He looked up from his book. 'I don't know have you decided on an outfit to wear?'

'Oh bite me Nadir let's go.' I headed over to the front door not waiting for Nadir. 'Bye dad I'll see you tomorrow!'

'Have fun you two!' Nadir walked up to me as I opened the front door and walked out to into the bitter cold.

**Christine:**

'Meg this isn't funny help me find something nice to wear!' I tossed the 6th outfit I had tried on onto the bed.

She pulled the pile off her lap and stood up to start looking in the closet. 'What does it matter what you wear Chrissy?' She pulled out a black dress that went right above my knees and handed it to me.

'It's a party! I need to look good!' I pulled the dress over my head and then pulled my boobs up so they were on the push up bra pad.

'Yeah why are you wearing a push-up bra? You look good. Put some flats with it and you'll be good.' She sat back down on my bed.

'Because they push my boobs together and make them look perkier than they really are.'

'Yeah suuure and I wear thongs for pantie lines. Just keep your hands off Nadir. Got it?' She grabbed one of my discarded dresses and stood up.

'Why would I try to touch either of them? I just met both of them and after this morning I think I'll stay a virgin till I'm 40.'

She pulled her shirt and pants off. 'The first time someone you actually like bites your neck you won't even care about what you just said.'

'Yeah ok.' I rolled my eyes while I finished pinning my bangs up out of my face.

'You know its true. I bet you'll have sex before your 17th birthday.' She pulled the purple dress down over her head and fixed her bra:dress neckline ratio. 'Alright do you think this'll get Nadir's attention?'

I put my flats on and turned to looked at her. 'Well I mean yeah, but you haven't even known the guy for a day. Have some class.'

'Awww Chris, come on chicks plan to have sex with a guy within seconds of meeting them. I'm wearing a dress instead of streaking so technically I am being classy.'

'Yes you are, and I thank you for that.'

**ding ding ding ding ding ding**

'Oh my god why did my dad pick such an annoying tone?' I finished revamping my mascara then hurried out if my room and downstairs to the front door, but not before turning my playlist I had earlier made. I opened the door completely forgetting that Norman was coning over. I paled at the sight of him since I wasn't wearing the most 16 year old appropriate dress. Sure it went down to my knees, but it was tight, strapless and my boobs I now realized were _too_ out there. I pulled my dress up hoping to cover my chest up a bit until I could put a different bra on while he walked in past me shaking his head.

'Just don't do anything stupid Chris.'

'I'm not! I didn't realize they were THAT out there.' I followed him into the kitchen and helped him put the alcohol in the freezer to cool it down quicker.

'You better not. You don't want a kid like Sammi and I have. Shit we have two because of being stupid.'

'I thought Hugh was just Sammi and her high school boyfriends kid?'

'He is, but she was being stupid when he was conceived.'

'Yeah alright let's move onto a different subject. I won't do anything stupid.' I put the last bag of ice in the freezer and closed it.

'Right well you are going to be doing some, in your case, heavy lifting. I brought you or ping pong table set up and you're going to help me move it.' He went to the hallway and I groaned as I followed. We got outside and I made sure to leave the door open so we could carry it in without stopping and fighting with the door. 'Alright you're going to pull the front end out and I'll get the other end once it's out far enough.' I pulled my dress up for the 12th time remembering why I never wore it. The next minute or so was a blue. Somehow I managed to get the table on my back and it was caught on the hood of the car and my dress was ONCE again falling.

'Norman my dress is falling help.'

'Hang on I almost have the table unstuck!'

' .falling.' I didn't once look up from my dress hoping that the intense stare I was giving it was helping it stay up.

'Hang on just one secon… ah ha!' And right in that moment my dress fell and I was standing butt naked in the street and couldn't do _anything _about it because Norman was too busy laughing.

'Oh woah is there a dress code we didn't know about?' I looked up from my dress which was in a pile around my feet and saw Nadir and Erik looking then covered their eyes.

'Oh god no no no.' I tried to set the table down but it got stuck again so I let it flop in the air as I bolted into the house not even caring about my dress in the street. I ran up the stairs and into my rooms closing the door behind me. I felt my face getting redder as I leaned back against the door. I tried ignoring the mortification I was feeling and find some clothes that actually fit . Deciding on a hoodie and some sweats since I just flashed the entire neighborhood I pulled my bra off then I heard someone knocking on the door assuming it was Norman. 'Piss off Norman.'

'I'll make sure to tell him that when I see him next. Can I come in?' Erik's voice went up a pitch during the last sentence.

'Why?' I put my pants on then my hoodie after changing into a t-shirt bra. I pulled my hair out of my hoodie and went over to my bathroom to check to see if my cheeks had gone back to normal color and saw that my eyes were red. I sighed when I heard Erik starting to horribly sing Boheamian Rapsody. I started wiping the smudged mascara from under my eyes and opened the door.

He smiled and stood up from leaning on the doorway. 'Hey. You alright? If it makes you feel better the same exact thing happened to me when I was living in Oregon.'

I moved to the side so he could come in and I closed the door behind us since I knew Meg would easedrop on any conversation we have. 'Really?' I sniffled and kept wiping at my eyes.

'Yeah I was going to a drag party with Snoop Dogg. It might shock you but I don't have the biggest boobs.' I couldn't help but laugh a little bit. 'The first part was a lie, but the second part was completely true. I'm actually thinking about getting breast implants so dresses will stay up for me.'

'Oh god I'm sorry I look so horrible. I didn't even know I was crying until I went into the bathroom to check my hair.'

He crossed his arms. 'Well that's no good.'

'What?'

'Well either that means you started drinking without us, but I don't think you have since you were able to run, or that you're so used to crying you don't even notice it anymore when you do.'

I put my hands in my hoodie pocket and looked up at him. 'What makes you think that? I mean I'm fine, I really have nothing to be sad over besides the fact that I was stupid and didn't just give my ex what he wanted.'

'You can tell a lot of people that and they'll believe you, but you can't use the lie on a person who uses it consistently, and honestly you shouldn't have given him what he wanted. You should have done what you did because he obviously doesn't respect you enough to recognize you have boundaries and or you weren't ready for anything to happen.'

'Yeah well it doesn't matter what I want now does it? I mean my future is already planned out so I can please my dad so hey what the well is tacking my first time on that list of shit I didn't want to do but someone else does.' I tossed my arms in the air and sat down on my bed angrily.

'Well... I don't really know what to say to that besides tell your dad... or whoever decided your future to piss off and let you do what you want to do.'

I let out a sarcastic laugh. 'Yeah like I haven't tried that. Maybe I'll bail and move to Norway and score me some free edumacation.'

'Why would you do that?' He sat down on the floor in front of me.

'Because I'll get away from my family here.' I bought my hair abound onto one shoulder and started braiding it.

'I mean I know family can suck but they can't be that bad.'

'My dad is never around and most of the time when he is, he's telling me what I should do and that I should just be a well behaved kid the rest of high school so that I won't loose my scholarship to Grand Canyon University.'

'You already have a scholarship?' He stopped picking at his shoe and looked at me.

'Yeah. That's how controlling and preplanning he is. I told him I wanted to go San Diego University with Meg and her brother but he looked at me like I was fucking crazy!'

'Wow that sucks... you're going to be 18. Just flip him off and go to San Diego with Meg.'

'I might I guess. I just don't want my dad to hate me ya'know?'

'I completely understand, now.' He stood up and stretched looking much like a cat while doing so. It really made you realize how tall he was. 'We should go down stairs and I will guiltlessly get you drunk so you can forget about flashing everyone.'

I stood up and went to the door. 'Thanks for reminding me.' I opened the door to find Nadir and Meg falling onto the floor. I rolled my eyes and looked over at Erik who just shrugged his shoulders as he went over and stepped over the two who were still laying on the floor. I followed behind him and almost tripped since I had substantially shorter legs than Erik but managed to keep my footing. We went downstairs and saw the ping pong table set up cups and all. I loved the cups, they were clear and the bottoms were light up so we could play it with the lights off making it a more interesting game. I went over to the fridge and pulled out some vegetables I had Meg cut earlier while I showered wanting to get Raoul's touch off me. Of course it didn't work though, I still felt gross and tainted by him.

I realized I was standing staring into the fridge when Erik tapped my shoulder. 'Are you alright?'

'Yeah sorry I was just thinking.' I pulled the bowl of vegetables and ranch out and set them on the counter. I closed the fridge door and went over to the pantry for whatever chips we had. 'Alrighty typical party snacks, check. Drinks, check and our humans, check. I think we have all the makings for a crappy high school party!'

He leaned back against the counter and rubbed his hands together. 'Love me some crappy high school party.'

'Yeah I'-' I was stopped when I heard my voice coming from the living room and Meg laughing. 'Oh my god she better not be…' I opened a drawer and pulled a meat cleaver and began to leave the room but Erik caught the meat cleaver before I could leave the room.

'Drop it.' I didn't loosen my grip. 'Let it go.' He started smacking my hand but that didn't change anything. 'Bad! Drop it!' I fought the urge to smile as he started to pry my fingers off the meat cleaver.

'No!' I started walking once he failed three times on getting my index finger off and he didn't let the grip he had on my wrist go. I looked over at Meg and Nadir cracking up sitting on the couch looking at the TV so my gaze moved over to the TV. My eyes widened when I saw it was _the video. _'Let go Erik I need to murder her!' I yanked my arm out of his grip and started to stalk over to the couch. 'I'm going to murder you Meg! Why would you even consider playing that? I haven't done anything to you!… yet!' She squealed and got up from the couch so she could easily run away.

'Christine, stop we want a shitty high school party, not a Scream high school party!' Erik tried grabbing it again but I yanked it away before he could.

'Come on Chrissy it's funny! It's not even remotely embarrassing!' She started backing up and hit the wall within seconds.

'To you! You're not the one who was being recorded in her bathing suit, first time drinking I may add. humping the TV while Ramin is on there! You're such an ass!' I started running at her and she started running outside. She turned the corner around the pool and checked to see if I was still chasing her and screamed when she saw I was. After a couple laps she decided to jump in the pool, which was stupid but I wasn't going to let her get away. I was running and in mid jump when Erik's arms wrapped around my waist pulling me back onto the concrete. I felt my heart flutter and assumed it was from the intimate touch from him, who I barely knew.

'Are you going to calm down and stop trying to stop committing homicide?'

I felt his breath brush against my ear and I felt my stomach start doing gymnastics, and my skin had goosebumps. 'Yeah I guess.'

'Give me the meat cleaver and I'll let you go.' I put the cleaver over my shoulder and up so he could grab it and once he was in possession of the weapon he let me go. He looked down at the meat cleaver. 'So humping the TV, eh?' I raised my fist and he flinched away. 'I'm just messing around!'

'I'll get them to see it one day!' Meg climbed out of the pool shaking.

I turned back to Erik. 'Can I please have the meat cleaver back? She jumped in a pool with my dress on!'

'No.' He brought it to his chest and went back inside. I glared at Meg and followed him inside to find him putting the meat cleaver on top of the fridge.

'I'll get a stool and get it. Your height advantage does nothing.'

He looked down at me then turned. 'Don't worry I'll have you drunk within the hour and all will be good. Booze?'

'Freezer.' I sat down at the bar and started fiddling with the 10 shot glasses Norman also brought us for tonight. He pulled out a bottle of tequila and turned to the counter. I rolled two shot glasses over to him and he poured the bad decision juice into them and looked around the kitchen for something. 'What cha lookin for?'

'Lemon.'

'Oh! We use lime, _much _better.' I got up and went over to the fridge. I pulled a plate covered with plastic wrap out and set it on the counter. 'Here we are.' I pulled the plastic off and crumpled it up into a ball. I grabbed a slice of time and sat back down. I picked up my shot glass and raised it in the air. 'To a beautiful friendship my good Sir.'

He raised his glass and looked at me suspiciously. 'You want to be friends with me?' I hit his glass with mine while nodding then I downed the contents of the glass. I quickly started sucking on the lime to help cover the alcohol burn. As I recovered I noticed I was still nodding and quickly stopped. 'Of course. It only seems logical, you've let me blab your ear off and you've seen me half naked. You've met all the requirements of becoming my friend. Oh and you make me laugh.' I grabbed the tequila bottle and poured us another shot as the two of us were being stared at by Meg and Nadir who came in the kitchen. Meg was in a dry pair of clothes, _my _clothes to be exact. 'Meg you have your clothes upstairs, why didn't you put those on?'

She groped herself and squished her boobs further together. 'I originally just stole your push up bra and I now sees what you mean by the whole making them look more perky and now miles apart, but anyway but then I was like I want clean clothes so I took these.' She turned and grabbed one of maybe a hundred or so beers out of the freezer and popped it open.

'Ugh whatever just don't go jumping in the pool with em on.' I tossed back my second shot and then started sucking on the lime again. I noticed Nadir smirked at Erik and Erik rolling his eyes at Nadir. I narrowed my eyes when Nadir looked over at me then back at Erik while sipping on his beer that Meg had gotten him. I guess they were unaware that I noticed their weird telepathic conversation they were having, and at the amount of times they looked at me and Erik tried to murder Nadir with his stare. Feeling kinda awkward I stood and grabbed a beer from the fridge to go into the living room with. I went to the French doors that went out onto the patio and opened them up so the smell of wet grass and rain started to creep into the house. Content with the atmosphere I plopped down on the couch. I grabbed the TV and Wii remote off the coffee table that I was using as a foot stool and turned everything on preparing myself for some intense online Mario Kart games. I was started the game up when Erik walked in and stepped over my legs so he could sit on my right side.

'What cha playin?' He took a sip of his beer.

'Mario Kart Wii. Wanna play?' I grabbed the second remote from the table and handed it to him.

'Ah yes... Mario Kart Wii. The equivalent of Mario Party when it comes to ruining friendships except it takes less time.' He took the remote and licked his lower lip. _God dammit he's trying to kill me. It's like he knows my list of 'What to do to look extremely hot' list._ He looked down at me and smirked and I smiled faintly then turned my attention to the TV so I wasn't staring.

'So what maps do you want to play?' I selected multiplayer and 150cc type while waiting for him to decide.

'The one with raindow road. If we're going to ruin this friendship we're going to do it right.' I giggled as I selected the trophy map collection. When it came to pick the character we both went to Yoshi. 'You have have him. I kickass with baby Peach too.'

'You can have him. I'll be Boo.' I moved the picker thing over to Boo and selected him.

'Well alright then.' I expected him to pick Yoshi but he selected baby Peach instead.

'So neither of us are going to be Yoshi?'

'It appears so.' He smiled and took another swig of his beer before putting it between his legs.

'Well I'll play Yoshi then.' I moved over to Yoshi and picked him.

'You do that.'

'I will!' I pressed the two button to pick our cars.

'Alrighty then.'

'Alright.'

'Fine.' I didn't respond seeing that we'd keep saying retarded things. During the silence and the count down till we could go I wondered where Meg and Nadir were and why they weren't hanging out with us.

'Wait... you sneaky person! I should quit this game and pick baby Peach just for the sake of my pride.' The light got to green so we started racing and bumping into walls left and right.

'I have no idea what you're talking about. You picked Yoshi all on your own.' I glanced over at him and saw that he was smirking.

'Nu-uuh! You totally did a weird mind thing that I don't understand.'

'Then how do you know I did a weird mind thing?'

'Because I do.' I threw a red shell at Browser and got into third place.

'How?'

'How what?' I looked over him after he hit me with a green shell and playfully punched him in the shoulder.

'Ow what was that for?' He paused the game and rubbed his shoulder.

Started to feel a bit bad I decided to apologize. 'I'm sorry I didn't think I hit you that hard.'

He pouted his lower lip and looked down right adorable while doing so. 'It's okay.' He started the game back up and we sat in awkward silence until he leaned over and whispered in my ear, 'You know I'm kidding right?' I took a deep breath trying to figure how a complete stranger had such an effect on me as I nodded. _Raoul could'nt even do this to me. What is wrong with me!? Its just the booze, it has to be- wait no I didn't have alchol in my system at the pool._ While the next map loaded and I toussled my hair in frustration. When Meg and Nadir came in and they sat on either side of us, we, well at least I knew they were up to sonething since there were plenty of other places to sit. Of course Meg didn't know _why _Raoul and I broke up, but I knew she was happy as could be. I got frustrated when Meg leaned into me making me practically morph into Erik. I stood up and handed the remote to Nadir.

'Play for me for a minute Nadir? I need to talk to Meg.' I grabbed her hand and yanked on her arm to get up and follow me. Feeling her get up I dragged her out onto the patio and turned to look at her. 'What are you doing Meg?!' I made sure to keep my voice to a whisper.

'You just broke up with Raoul and I know you're not broken up about it. Erik is cute and I don't want to getting back with Raoul so I'm trying to get you with someone else.'

'Meg that is one of the stupidest things you've ever done! I'm not going to get back with Raoul, but I'm also not going to get with Erik. Especially when I've known him for not even day! I do this thing called 'getting to know someone's before considering starting a relationship with them.' Now if you and Nadir would stop that'd be cool.'

'Hey Nadir is doing things on his own accord. I just slightly mentioned that you were single and he may have mentioned that Erik changed 6 different times before coming over here! If that's not trying to impress wondering someone then I don't know what is, and I sure as hell know he's not trying to look good for me.' She smirked at me.

'Maybe he takes pride in what he wears.' I put my chin on the air and crossed my arms defensively.

'Okay well why were you freaking out over what you were going to wear? You don't care what you wear so you can't lie to me.'

I mumbled while looking at the floor, 'because he's cute.'

She leaned over to me and put her hair behind her ear.'I'm sorry I couldn't hear you.'

I looked up at her and rolled my eyes. 'Because he's cute!'

'Who's cute?' I paled at the sound of Erik's voice and turned to look at him.

I awkwardly laughed and grabbed the back of my neck. 'Uh Ramin obviously.'

'Ah yes this is where I come in.' Meg walked up next to me and put her elbow on my shoulder. 'You see, Erik... we are out here talking about several things, and she just admitted to thinking you're cute.'

I swallowed the bile that threatened to rise up my throat as Erik cleared his throat and shifted on his feet uncomfortably. 'Well she's obviously had too much to drink and should have some coffee or sleep it off.' His voice was cold and he turned on his heel and went back inside. He grabbed his beer before sitting back down on the couch next to the Nadir.

I didn't move nor look at Meg. I tried to hide the hurt in my voice but failed when my voice sounded groggy. 'Thanks Meg.' I ran inside and up the stairs into my room. I slammed the door behind me making sure to lock it. My mind was a blur but the last thing I remember was an overwhelming anger washing over me and the beginning of a blood curdling scream. When I snapped out of my rage surge I had thrown my lamp and anything and everything Raoul had given me over the course of our relationship was snapped in half and or ripped in half. Someone was frantically banging on the door but instead of unlocking the door for them I sat down in the middle of my mess and ran my fingers through my hair.

'Christine are you okay? We need to know if you're okay. Unlock the door honey.'

I pulled my knees up to my chest and put my chin on the top of my knee. 'Piss off Meg.'

I heard mumbling then Nadir started talking to me. I didn't register what he said but I didn't want to be rude and interrupt him since he hasn't done anything to deserve my anger. Once I knew it was safe to talk I did so. 'Nadir I know you're trying to help but please stop.' I heard more mumbling, someone going down the stairs, then a few seconds later the person climbing back up the stairs.

The person knocked on my door. 'I have beer.'

I felt my anger coming back but tried to controlling it fearing what'd happen if I didn't. 'Fucking piss off Erik. I'm drunk enough already so I don't want to push it.' Sarcasm was oozing off my last words. _How could someone think I was too drunk? I had two shots_! I heard a thunk then some more foot steps. I heard the lock wiggling and I narrowed my eyes as the door hoping they'd feel it. 'I have 10+ knives in here so I'd highly suggest you guys leave me alone.'

'Yeah yeah yeah. Since when have I been one to listen Chris?' Meg didn't even know how to pick my lock so I knew her attempts would fall short. Not even thinking about Erik or Nadir picking my lock I jumped when my door opened and they all asked what happened. I leaned over to my bed and grabbed my over sized kitchen knife from between my mattress and bed frame.

'I said leave me alone Jesus! Erik out of all the people here should know I might need some fucking space!' I saw the bobby pin in his hand while angrily slamming the knife down next to me.

Meg curiously walked up to me and kneeled down next to me. 'What happened to you today Christine? You obviously need to talk about it.' She picked up a necklace Raoul had given me for our six month aanniversary and looked at the snapped chain.

'It doesn't matter what happened today, Meg. Let's just give me some space.'I pushed a pile shirts over so I could scoot over away from Meg.

'It does matter what happened today Christine. Nadir and I will leave so you two can talk.'

The two turned but I quickly stood up. 'You! You couldn't just take a compliment could you? I don't think I should talk about having his grubby hands down my pants while I'm _drunk_! I'll sleep it off so you two stay here and have fun with Meg.' Not giving a single shit that Nadir and Erik were in my room I shed my jacket and sweats on my way to my closet for some pajamas. I put on my black tanktop and some boy shorts and turned the closet light off on my way out. I climbed onto my bed and got under the cover and looked at the three who were staring at me. 'Just take a picture then leave so I can sleep.' I turned my lamp off and got comfortable, closing my eyes. I heard two people leave and got slightly irritated that someone stayed behind. I felt my bed shift behind my back and the person setting a beer down revealing it was Erik.

I felt my heartbeat quicken as he sighed. 'I'm sorry.' I didn't say anything so I guess he took that as an invitation to continue. 'I just don't take compliments well.'

I couldn't help but let a bitter laugh out. 'No shit.'

'Well I'll leave then. I'll see you around, again I'm sorry.' I felt his weight lift off the bed and a second later my door started closing.

I took a deep breath and sat up just before the door closed. 'Wait come back.' I had a temper but I also felt bad easily, especially if a person apologized. He backed into the room and looked at me with guilt in his eyes making me feel even worse. 'I'm sorry Erik. I guess I just am angry. I lost it and I'm still angry over this morning despite my act. Everything on my floor aside from my lamp, Raoul gave me. I feel like when I do decide to do anything that the guy will know and they'll think its my fault. Where he touched me I feel gross and ruined and I want it off! It won't go away!' I choked back a sob that was forming. 'It won't go away... but what gets me most is that, even if he didn't get any physical satisfaction I will _always _have his touch on me.'

'I don't know what to say besides a guy won't see it, nor will they think its your fault. I'm sorry this happened to you Christine, I really am, but I don't think destroying stuff is a healthy way to work through it.'

'I don't remember doing anything after starting to scream... I've never blanked out like that before.' I put my face in my hands and brought my knees back up to my chest.

'Why did you even take what I said the way you did?' He grabbed the beer off my nightstand and handed me it.

'I don't know. Maybe because I hate it when people don't like themselves?'

'Alright I'll play along. What do you even find attractive about me? I mean I'm pretty much a skeleton with a mask on.'

'Well since the cats out of the bag I'll tell you. Don't laugh though!' I smiled weakly and grabbed the end of his hair. 'Your hair, your eyes, your smile, your personality and the fact that I haven't known you even a day and I'm already comfortable around you like I'm comfortable with Meg. Oh also your cheekbones, they're like Benedict Cumberbatch's and your jaw/chin are strong but soft if that makes any since.'

He yes and no nodded then stuck with no. 'Yeah no I don't know what you mean, and although I don't agree, thank you.' He stood and offered me his hand. 'Let's go back down and play some beer pong or Mario Kart. I haven't kicked your butt on that yet.'

I took his hand and felt the hair on my arms stand up then stood up while taking a drink of my beer. _Stop feeling weird when he touches you, you moron. _'And you won't anytime soon.'

'On what game? Because I throw bananas like nobodies business.' He smirked as we walked down stars.

'Beer pong mister.' We got to the kitchen where Meg and Nadir were eating some chips and Meg turned around to look at us. Her mouth fell open and her eyes landed on our hands which were still holding each other. We both paled and let go immediately. 'R-right Meg help me with the beer.' I looked down at the floor as I walked over to the freezer and pulled out an armfull of beers. I hurried to the ping pong table that was set up in the oddly specious entry way. I dumped the beers onto the table and started filling the cups up with different amounts in each cup. Meg soon followed and started doing the same as me. After a second of awkward silence she spoke up.

'So holding hands huh?' She looked at me while she was filling a cup.

'He offered me his hand when I got out of bed and we forgot that we were holding hands. Its nothing big so don't make it big.' She didn't respond so I assumed she understood not to push the subject. Once we finished filling the cups up and turning them on we began throwing the bottles away. I went to put my hands in my back pocket but forgot I wasn't wearing jeans. I put my hands on the counter and propped myself up so I was sitting on the counter. 'So, boys against girls, Nadir and Meg vs you and I, or you and Meg vs Nadir and I. What sounds good to you guys?'

'I think Nadir and I will team up.' Meg put her shit eating grin on and dragged Nadir out of the room.

'Well I guess we should go.' I hurried out of the room and up to the table. Nadir and Meg already had the ping pong balls so once Erik got next to me we were set. 'You two can go first.'

Meg tossed the ball in the air and smiled. 'My pleasure.' She threw the ball and it landed in one of the more filled cups. I rolled my eyes and picked the glass up before Erik could and started to drink. 'Chug! Chug! Chug! Chug!' I downed the beer in ten seconds and very unattractively burped once I was done.

'Wait!' I went a few feet and turned the lights out. I smiled and turned to go back to the table but tripped on myself and landed on Erik. 'Oh God I'm sorry!' I couldn't help but laugh despite the mixed emotions his hands on my shoulders were giving me.

'No its fine. Are you alright? You put that away pretty quickly.' Once I was stable he let go leaving me feeling unbalanced.

'Alright lets do this. Erik you throw first.' I couldn't see what he did but I think he smiled or something like that then tossed the ball.

'Dammit! We're going to be fucked up before this game is over.' Meg picked the cup the ball was tossed into and downed it. A few tosses later I stopped right before I was going to take my turn and smelled the air.

'Hang on guys do you smell that?' I set the ball down and rounded the table over to the front door.

'Smell what?' I opened the door and lit up at the sight of heavy rain falling.

'Let's go!' I bolted out the door and out into the street enjoying the rain on my skin.

**Erik:**

Once Christine bolted out the door I immediately worried that she'd fall, slip, trip, break and or die because she seemed really clumsy and I didn't think the amount of beer she had in her system was going to help either. I hurried out the door along with Nadir and Meg out into the rain which was freezing cold. I saw Christine in the middle of the street laughing and spinning with her arms out. Rain drops were rolling down her skin, and into her clothes which were soaked. Her tank top and shorts were clinging to her skin accentuating her curves and slender figure givinge a better look of how underweight she really was and it was a bit worrying. I smiled as the three of us left the safety of the porch and went down to the end of the driveway. The two joined her in the dancing while I awkwardly stood to the side like I usually do. I looked down at the concrete and felt someones hand grab mine so I looked up and saw Christine giggling. 'Come ya goof!' She pulled me into the street and started flailing my arms around for me making adorable faces while doing it. 'You remind me of those air things that have the arms and dance!'

I couldn't help but laugh at her description of me. 'Well that's a new one.' Something about this bubbly girl made me break out of my shell and despite how much I tried to lie to myself, I like it... and her. _She is different oh blah blah I know they're all different but_ she _is different. _I pushed the thought away knowing she could never like a guy like me, especially when my face look liked Satan tried to paint a face but ended up with me. She stopped laughing and shyly looked at her feet for a second then back up to me.

'I really want to thank you for this morning Erik. I-I don't know how far he would have gone or what would have happened because of it. I really owe you one.'

'I was just being a decent human being. I hope kidnapping me today and nearly killing us made up for your crappy morning.'

'Very much. You should let me kidnap you more often... tomorrow night Meg and I are going to Norman's to cut his wife's hair and color it then we're going to go see Thor. You and Nadir wanna come? You can carpool with us or meet us at the theatre if you don't want to hang with the cool kids at his place for an hour or so.'

'I can't speak for Nadir but I'd love to go.'

She jumped and clapped her hands together. 'Ah! Yay I'm so excited! Carpool? I said kidnap so carpool. Eeep spin me around!'

'What?' I laughed a little bit and grabbed her finger that she was pointing at me.

'Now bring your hand up here still holding onto my finger and spin!' I started spinning my arm around with little effort since she was doing the work and smiled at the giggly blonde in front of me. She spun around for about a minute but suddenly plopped down on her butt in the middle of the street. I knelt down besides her and offered her my hand. She put her hands in the air and took a deep breath. 'I'm alright give me a moment... ugh.' She fell back and put her arm over her eyes. 'I think I'm going to puke.' I saw headlights from a car coming down the road so I preped myself for being puked on and picked her up not wanting her to be ran over.

'Wat'r you doin Erik? I was comfortable!' Her eyes were still closed so she must not of seen the lights. I carried her over to Meg and Nadir who had made it over to the driveway seconds before me and set her down on her feet and had Meg help me prop her up to bring her into the house. 'Note to self... don't spin while carrying high quantities of-'

'High quantities of what, Christine Daae?' Her head shot up and her eyes widened.

She steadied herself from the two of us and smiled at the man who was walking up to us. 'Candy... obviously. You know how my stomach reacts to candy, right dad?' She laughed a little but stopped realizing he wasn't buying it. He went to go around us and go in the house but she stopped him. 'Dad I just need to let you know, the house was robbed, and they threw a party before leaving.' The man rolled his eyes and stepped around her and opened the door. Thankfully the lights were off so he hand to step inside and turn them on to see the alcohol everywhere. Christine pointed to us and then did another hand motion but once she started running down the drive way we all followed. We ran for about five minutes before we ended up in a park near by. We all sat down at the bench and fought to get the air back in our lungs.

'Why... did... we...run...?' I coughed from the lack of air not being used to such cardio.

Meg who was breathing like a normal human again responded, 'He's easier to deal with when he's had some time to cool down.' I nodded my head in understanding then closed my eyes.

'Wait where are we going then?' Nadir raised a valid point that none of us had thought of.

'Well dad's a heavy sleeper and he might be asleep by now, and if not its an easy climb up to my room if need be. You two will just have to leave before he wakes up and does his morning check.'

'Sounds better than dealing with my dad at this moment. He hates people who drink so I think I might just move to Zimbabwe and change my name to Diamond. Yeah that sounds like a plan.' We sat for another minute or so then got up to walk to our house. I saw Christine shivering and felt horrible that I couldn't do anything, she was also barefoot which must have sucked. We got up to my house and saw that my dads room was lit up. I looked at Christine who was shaking more than a little Chihuahua and knew she couldn't climb.

'Fuck it lets just go in. I'm not going to try and have her climb barefoot and shaking.'

'N-no I-I-I'm f-fine.' Determination was set on her face and I sighed.

'No I'm not going to risk it.' I opened the door quietly thankful at this moment for not having a dog and the three piled in and I quietly closed the door. I motioned for Meg and Christine to follow us up the stairs as quietly as possible. With such quietness I started hearing Christine's teeth chatter. We successfully made it up the stairs and past my dad's room. I went to open my door and it let out a giant creek making my heart skip a beat hoping dad wouldn't hear it. We all went into my room which wasn't the cleanest and had Meg and Christine hide in my closet until I knew dad wouldn't come and check. A few seconds past until I heard his door open and his foot steps coming up to my door. I opened the door before he even knocked which was a moronic mistake. 'Hey dad.'

'What are you two doing home? I thought you were at your friends house tonight.' He looked over my shoulder and Nadir waved at him.

'The girls fell asleep so we-' I was cut off by someone sneezing then someone smacking the sneezer from what I could guess.

'What was that Erik?' He walked in after I stepped to the side knowing we were pretty much caught.

I shrugged my shoulders. 'Maybe it was rats. I heard they can get pretty big here.' He looked around the room and turned to the closet. _Fuck._ He slid it open and pushed the clothes side to side and I was confused as so where they had gone. He pushed the doors to the other side and pushed the clothes away revealing a shivering Christine and a Meg rubbing her red cheek. I saw his stance tense up and knew nothing good came out of that and prepared for the worse.

'And why do you have to dripping wet girls in your closet Erik?'

His voice was eerily calm which worried me. 'Blonde is Christine, brunette is Meg, and because Christine's rather came home early and he was about to launch on her for stuff.'

He pulled my comforter off my bed and handed it to the girls who were stepping out of my closet. They quietly thanked him and stood off to the side working to get warm. 'And what stuff would that be?'

'We had the movies to loud?' I picked my towel off the floor and started dying my hair off.

'Yeah alright.' He looked over to Nadir. 'What happened?'

'We... uh... they... no we were... playing uh...' he looked desperately around the room then sighed. 'We were drinking.'

'And how did you get a hold of such items?' He put his hands behind his back and started rocking on his feet.

Christine spoke up, and when I say spoke up I mean we could kind of hear her but not very well. 'My brother.'

Our dad quickly turned around and Christine jumped at the motion. 'What'd you say hun I couldn't hear you.'

She shrunk back into the blanket. 'My brother gave it to us. He took my keys and Erik left his here. We were planning on leaving until my father came home. Meg and I will go just don't yell at Erik and Nadir. It was my idea and they were just playing along.' She and Meg took the blanket and handed it to me and nodded goodbye to Nadir and I. Meg was going down stairs and Christine had stood and turned back to me and smiled. I didn't really know what to do so I smiled back. Realizing I saw her she blushed and hurried down the stairs. Once I heard the front door close I began to worry if they'd make it back alright, and what would transpire once they got back to Christine's house.

'So which one did you help this morning?'

'Uh Christine.' I tossed my balled up comforter on my bed.

'Ah. Well, she's done nothing but get you in trouble today so I forbid you from seeing her again, and that school transfer? You'll get it, you just aren't going to the one she told you about. Erik I don't know what's gotten into you today but this isn't like you and you're going to get in serious trouble if you don't fix how you're acting. If I find out you've seen her you'll loose your car for a month and I won't drive you anywhere.' I swallowed the lump in my throat and nodded knowing this was a no-win situation. He looked over at Nadir who was looking at his feed. 'And you Nadir, I'm disappointed in you.' With that he turned and left the room leaving us to ponder everything he said.

'Well I'll see you tomorrow Erik.' Nadir slumped out of my room and closed the door behind him. I walked over to my bed and fell back onto it. _I'll still see her. _I felt my phone go off in my pocket and I checked to see who texted me. Seeing it was from Christine I sat up. '_I'm grounded for three months! I can't do anything besides go to school and Norman's place!'_

'Yeah I've been forbidden to see you ever again, and I'm not going to be transfered to the school you told me about.' I tossed the phone to my side and got up to change out of my dipping wet clothes. I laid them out over my chair to dry and pulled my pajama pants on. I tossed my comforter on my floor and went out into the hallway to get a dry blanket. Once I got under the blanket I realized just how cold I was. I yawned while getting my phone from under my butt to read Christine's text. _'No! Now I won't have any friends there :( Well wanna go to Norman's with me tomorrow still? Meg is going to be dropped off and we're gonna watch movies.'_

_'_Really watch movies or drink?'

_'Movies. I'll meet you at the park at 11.'_

'Alright fine. You're my driver if I get my keys taken away for seeing you.'

_'Deal! I'll see you tomorrow!'_

_'_See you tomorrow.' I tossed my phone on the floor and closed my eyes while wondering what I just got myself into.


	4. Lesbian Fairy

**Authors note: Merry birthmas! Sorry I feed off your guys reviews which you guys so selflessly write every chapter and it's becoming addicting! Plus I'm making up for leaving my Severed Hearts viewers hanging for a week by posting chapters whenever.**

**Christine**:

Not having Meg over to help pick an outfit out I was hopeless. I wanted to look cute, be comfortable and warm at the same time which seemed pretty much impossible. I stood in front of my closet for close to an hour looking through my clothes and couldn't find a single thing. Deciding I'd steal something from Sammi I put a pair of sweats and a hoodie on and grabbed my keys to leave. I left my room and hurried down the stairs hoping to avoid my father since I'm his newly failed alcoholic daughter, meaning we probably aren't going to be on the greatest terms for a while. I saw him in the kitchen and I tried to run to the door without him stopping me, but since when does that ever happen? 'Christine I want you home by midnight and I want photo evidence every hour that you're at Norman's.'

I turned and looked at him. 'Fine.' I quickly hurried out the door and got in my car. I turned the radio on as I backed out of the driveway and headed to the park that I would pick Erik up at. I pulled up to the curb next to the park and didn't see him so I sat back and turned the radio on. I started humming along until I saw Erik running from across the park over to me. I felt my heart skip a beat so I turned my attention to the steering wheel. Since he was ridiculously tall he was getting the car after a second. As soon as he had the door closed I pulled out into the road. 'Sorry I have to get to Norman's asap because my dad is demanding photo evidence every hour that I'm there.'

'How far is he from here?' He put his seatbelt on and sat back.

'About 20 minutes but I'm not pushing it.'

'We kinda live in the middle of nowhere don't we?'

'Yeah pretty much. I've lived out here for two years, and walks at 2 AM are nice if you need to get out. So I guess that's a positive of being so far out.'

'Yeah true. I hope the school my dad makes me go to isn't ridiculously far away. I hate driving, but add its to school? My motivation is shot in the face.' I nodded in agreement as I thought of a way to fix this.

'So what'd you tell your dad you'd be doing today?' I turned onto the freeway.

'I told him I'd be out exploring, picking up applications for work and seeing a movie. That's why I was a bit late, I was parking my car in the not built area of the neighborhood.'

'Ahhh you thought of everything huh?' I smiled and looked over at him for a second as he nodded. I noticed he was wearing black, again. 'Do you own not black clothes?'

'You were in my closet, what do you think?' He smirked at me.

'No? Well if you want to change that just ask me. I hate shopping but I have a good taste.'

'Oh I can tell. Sweats are the new skinny jeans.'

I felt myself blush and realized that I probably looked like complete crap. 'I look like crap, I know, but most of the time I look better than this.'

'No you look fine I was just playing around.'

'I know I just wanted to reassure you.' The rest of the drive was silent until we got up to his door and I stopped to find the key he gave me. 'So I'm going to warn you, there's a two year old in there and he's very loud, but his grandmother is coming to pick him up in a couple of hours along with the eight year old, and I apologize for the eight year old he's pretty obnoxious and it's easy to want to slap him so don't feel bad.' I took a deep breath and unlocked the door and immediately was greeted by a smiling Korben. I knelt down as he ran to me and wrapped my arms around him when he gave me a hug. I stood up with him in my arms and tried to hide just how happy this little kid made me. 'Say hello Korben' I did the little baby wave so he'd wave at Erik but instead he leaned towards Erik to be held. 'No babies he probably doesn't want to hold you.' I gave him a giant kiss before looking over at Erik who was making goofy faces at Korben. 'Wanna hold him Erik?'

'Uhh... will I drop him?' He looked nervous.

'Not unless you purposely drop him.' I smiled and handed Korben to Erik, and Korben immediately started giggling while pulling at his nose. 'Smack his hand if he hurt you. He's going through the violent phase.' We walked out of the entry into the family room/kitchen and was greeted by Sammi doing the dishes while watching Wayne's World. 'Sammi!' I grinned as I hurried into the kitchen and gave her a hug.

'Ahhh! Hey! Who's this? Is this your boyfriend?' She elbowed me and winked.

I blushed and laughed nervously. 'No this is my friend Erik. We just met yesterday and we were going to the movie with Meg but I got grounded last night.'

'And I'm not even supposed to be hanging out with her again but here we are.' He smiled and Korben and started tickling his side making him squeal.

'Oh! I'm sorry! Well it's nice to meet you Erik. I'm Sammi, and I will give you a hug as soon as I'm done!' She smiled at him then focused on the dishes in the sink.

I leaned over in her ear and whispered, 'Can I barrow something cute?'

'Why? I mean yeah but why?' I eye pointed over at Erik and it took her several points to see why. 'Ooohhh. Yeah of course! Help yourself. I'll get the hair stuff out once I'm done and have given Erik a hug, okay?'

I gave her a hug and nodded. 'Thank you!' I hurried out of the kitchen and into theit bedroom. I opened the closet door and started going through her clothes. I settled on a black knit v-neck sweater and some black leggings. I shed myself of my lazy pants and put on my semi cute outfit. I stepped out of the room and saw Erik look up at me as he was setting Korben down. I blushed at the feeling of his eyes on me and went over to the kitchen and grabbed a couple bottles of water from the fridge and went to hand Erik one. I was hoping he'd say anything about how I looked but instead thanked me and kept attempting to secretly look at me.

'Oh Chrissy you wear that sweater better than I do! Keep it!' Her being my sister-n law she winked at me then continued, 'How do you think she looks in that sweater Erik?'

'Sam!' When he nervously looked down at his feet I mouthed thank you to her. She nodded and went back to her dishes.

'No I think it makes you look beautiful.' He smiled quickly then bent over to Korben who was tugging at his pant leg.

'Auntie pretty!' He pointed over at me from Erik's arms then clapped.

I went over to him while doing the tickling motion with my hands. As I got up closer to him he giggled and nestled into Erik for protection. I started tickling him until Hugh walked in the room and stopped at the sight of Erik. 'Who's that Chris?'

'This is my friend Erik. We met yesterday after he helped me with something really important.' I knelt down to his eye level.

'What's that?'

'Well between you and me...' I went up to his ear and whispered, 'He saved me because he's a superhero.' Hugh's face lit up and he ran over to Erik and hugged his left leg. Erik looked at me questioning so I went over to him and whispered, 'You're now a superhero to the kid. Have fun.' I smiled and went over to the kitchen were Sammi was finishing up.

She smiled at me and put her hands on her hips. 'So when are you gonna marry him?'

My face turned into a embarrassed tomato. 'Shh! Never! He'd never like me. I mean look at him, he's cute, tall, sweet, awesome with kids and between you and me, can kick ass. He could get girls so much better than me.

'Why do you always doubt yourself Christine? You have so much potential but you refuse to see it. Sooner or later realize that you're you, and you can't change it and that the world is lucky to have you around, Christine Daae, the worlds greatest singer.'

'As awesome as that sounds you're forgetting one thing, my dad refuses to let me go to California to get a MA.' I crossed my arms and leaned against the counter while she went into the pantry for the hair stuff.

'As much as I love your dad, fuck him. It's your life not his! Norman and I will help you however we can when you're in California and need help.'

'Yeah Erik pretty much said the same thing, well the fuck him part is my life, not the help part.'

'He's smart as well then. I have a feeling that you two will be married within the next 10 years.'

'Jesus! I just met the guy Sam! Meg was pushing me onto him, you're betting when we'll get married. You all need to calm down.'

'10 years.' She smiled and closed the pantry door.

'We'll be getting married like I'll be having sex before my 17th birthday.' I went around to the table behind the bar and grabbed a chair for her to sit on.

'What? No you will not missy! Do you want this life? As much as I love it, it sucks! Stay away from penis' forever. Not even when you THINK you want kids. Because within three years you'll be wanting to feed them to cheetahs and travel the world.'

'Yeah I think my point was I'm not having sex for a long time. Don't worry, I think I might just wait for marriage ya'know?'

'Wedding night sex is fun, do you want it to be painful?'

I looked around to make sure Erik was still playing with Korben and Hugh before answering. 'No but I'm sure after round two I'd be ready for crazy wedding night sex.'

She squealed and clapped her hands. 'You're so much like me. I love it! I'm going to be your maid of honor at your guys wedding if its in less than ten years though. If it's not within 10 years I'll be smacking you two, getting you together then I'll be the maid of honor for getting you two together.'

'Alright whatever go change into not pretty clothes for the haircut.' She nodded and went out of the kitchen and I followed her and headed over to Erik who was laying on the floor holding Korben up on his legs. I laid down next to him and smiled at the giggling child above us. 'I think he likes you.'

'That'll be a first. Most toddlers hate me.' He turned his head and looked at me.

'Yeah well this kid can't go to sleep without listening to Black Sabbath so I don't think he can fit under the most children category.'

'What did they do to this kid to have that happen?'

'I don't know. I mean when my brother was in school and was up late studying every night he'd listen to Black Sabbath and Sammi would try to stay up with him but would always fall asleep. Maybe that's it.'

'Ahh. So where's Meg and your brother?' Korben slid off Erik's legs and started using him as drums.

'Meg should be here soon and my brother gets off work at three. I have to be home by midnight so we'll have a few movies to watch before we have to leave and if her mom comes up tread lightly she's very... conservative. No cussing, showing too much skin, ect.'

'Maybe I'll just stay quietly just for good measures. So- holy crap!' I sat up and looked at him curl up into the fetal position while Korben giggled. His face turned red from lack of air and I really didn't know what to do. He held his hand out which I now saw was cradling his crotch and could help but laugh a little. 'Good shot little man.' Korben continued to giggle and gave him a high five before Erik went back to his dying position.

'Oh my God are you alright Erik?' I tried to stop laughing but it didn't work out very well.

He nodded and straightened out back to his original position and took slow deep breaths. 'He knows how to punch.' I broke out in a fit of laughter when he sat up and his face was pale. 'Yes laugh at my misfortune.'

'I'm sorry.' I wiped a tear from my eye and took a deep breath. 'Its just really funny!'

'What's goin on out here? Oh Christine have I told you how beautiful your smile is? Gosh I haven't seen you smile like that since you started going to high school.' She smiled and went over to the couch in front of us and sat down.

'Erik...' I started giggling again at the thought of Erik being hit in the junk by a two year old. 'He got nailed in the junk by Korben.'

She put her hand over her mouth in attempt to stifle the laughs but ultimately failed. 'Does he need ice?' She looked at him. 'Do you need ice?'

'No thank you….uh...'

'You can call me Sammi, Sam, Samster, that one chick, her, it, ma'am… anything you'd like really.' She smiled and went over to the chair I pulled out for her.

'No thank you Sammi.' He let Korben crawl on his lap even though he was just assaulted by him and fell back when Korben tackled him.

I sat up and smiled at the two before heading over to Sammi. 'So what do you want?'

'Pixie cut, and hot pink color.' She got comfortable.

'Bangs? Details so I know what to do.' I picked up the scissors and made sure they were sharp enough.

'I want them to my eyebrows and texturized.'

'Alright now we're getting somewhere. You got the bleach right?' She nodded. 'Well lets cut all your hair off now.' I smirked enjoying having all this control. 'Hey Erik wanna see me cut all her hair off?'

He popped up from the floor with Korben in his arms. 'Who wouldn't?' He came around and stood next to me and I cut her under-her-butt-cheek length hair at the nape of her neck.

'Well soon to be lesbian fairy, want to see all your hair?' She shook her head and laughed so I set it on the counter and started going at the back of her head with thinners and a razor giving it the pixie cut that seems to be in at the moment.

'So where'd you learn to do hair?' Erik stepped back when Korben went for my scissors.

'I couldn't find anyone to do what I wanted and voila here I am, happy with my haircut and about to make her pink.'

'Well that makes perfect sense... Pink?' He set Korben down and picked the pink hair dye up to look at it.

'Yeah. I'm more of a turquoise but hey. Wanna dye your hair pink? I do for fwee.' I smirked and snapped my thinners at him.

'Nah I'm good. I'll stick with my al naturalè color.' He fluffed his hair dramatically.

'Well fine.' I stuck my tongue out at him and giggled. I did a final touch up since this cut didn't take long and brushed the hair off her neck. 'Done!' Go see then tell me if it's alright, I mean it's too late buut ya'know.' She got up out of the chair and went to her room. Erik leaned against the counter and crossed his arms, its like he knows what I find hot when guys do it. I bit my lower lip and started mixing the bleach together. 'So Erik I figured a way out to deal with the whole being new kids thing.'

'Hows that?' He put his hands in his black skinny jeans pockets which really accentuated the best of his ridiculously long legs.

'Does your dad know the name of the school? Or that I even told you about it?'

'I told him you told me about it but that's it.' He looked at me curiously.

'Well tell him you looked up a new school to go to and tell him Verrado, and if he asks tell him I transferred to Dysart High School because I knew more people there. Wham we both are at Verrado and aren't the new kid.' I set the bowl on the counter and put my hand on my hip while leaning the other side on the counter.

'That might just work… I'll tell him when I get home.' Korben walked into the kitchen and completely ignored me and went straight for Erik. He tugged on his pant leg and Erik looked down and sighed.

'You know you don't have to play with him, he'll get over it in a couple minutes.' I smirked and pinched Korben's butt making him giggle.

'This child is very energetic... Where's Meg?' He looked up from the toddler and at me.

'You know that's a good question. I'm gonna call her.' I went over to the kitchen table and grabbed my phone from my purse. I saw that I had a text from her. _'I can't make it… I'm busy doing… stuff. Tell Erik I said hi!'_ I groaned and put my phone back in my purse.

'Where is she?'

'She's not coming.' I went back into the kitchen and started going through the pantry for something to snack on.

'Why?'

Knowing her reasons of not coming of the best lie I could think of. 'She's having _really _bad lady issues.' I grabbed a couple ritz crackers and handed one to Erik and Korben.

'Oh… Oh! Well that sucks.' He took a bite of the cracker and looked around the kitchen.

'Yeah pretty much I guess. Where the hell is Sammi?' I went around to their room and saw her sitting on their bed watching Breaking Bad. 'Oh my god Sammi what are you doing? We have movies to watch chicka!' She looked up at her phone and smiled.

'Sorry I got side tracked!' She got up and followed me to the kitchen.

'So do you like the cut?' I put on the rubber gloves and made the wrist part snap, and saw Erik flinch out of the corner of my eye. I bit back a smile while putting the other one on.

'Yeah it's adorable! You should become a hairdresser instead of a singer.'

'Ha! Yeah no.' I started putting the bleach on her roots and looked up at Erik who was watching the process intently. I coughed a little from the chemicals and trudged on. 'Last chance Erik, plenty of pink to go around.'

He chuckled and shook his head. 'No thank you. I'm not drunk nor am I under the influence of drugs. Give me one of those and _maybe _I'll say yes.'

'Yeah we saw how the drinking went down last night. You aren't even supposed to be here.' I itched my nose before going back to her hair.

'If I get my car taken away for hanging out with you, you're going to be my new ride.' His face scrunched up probably from the chemicals finally hitting his nose.

I coughed and blinked a couple times trying to stop the burning while nodding. 'Deal.'

'Holy crap I need some air. How do you guys do this stuff? He went out of the kitchen and sat down in the far corner of the family room.

'Years of accumulating hunny. Years of accumulating.' Sammi laughed while fanning at her face with a plate at attempt to get the fumes out of her face.

'Dear lord you're going to murder me if you keep fanning everything to my face.'

'I'd take a hit to the tesitcles from Korben again before breathing that for another second. Like damn it's leaking over here.' He stood up and went out onto the patio door that was open.

'Maybe we should have done it out there...' Sammi tapped her chin then started laughing when Erik plopped down on his butt.

'Yeah probably. Oh well! I got to hear Erik say testicles, which is something I didn't know I need to hear until now.' I started massaging the cream into her hair to make sure it was everywhere.

'So where's Meg? You said she was coming over right?'

'Yeah she thinks leaving he and I together today will lead to some magical night and we fall in love and sail away into the sunset. She hated Raoul, and now that there's a semi decent guy from what she knows guy in my life she's pushing me at him every chance she can get.'

'Raoul?'

'Oh yeah he was my boyfriend of a year, he kept pushing further and further for having sex and finally he crossed the line. Erik and I met due because of Raoul's incapability to keep it in his pants.'

'Do I need to castrate Raoul? I will, don't test me.'

I giggled as I took the gloves off and threw them away. 'No I'm fine. I'll check it in 10 minutes to see where it is.'

'Alrighty.' I left the kitchen and went out on to the balcony where Erik had gone to escape the toxic fumes and sat down next to him.

'Ello.' I nudged him with my shoulder and crossed my legs up to my chest.

'Done already?' He looked over at me from the dark clouds above us.

'Yeah she doesn't have a lot of hair. It just has to sit for a while then once I rinse it out the pink goes on and then wham we have a lesbian fairy.'

'Hey don't hate on the lesbian fairies.'

'I would never. I'm just stating she'll be one.' I laughed and started fidgeting with my hands not really knowing what to say. 'So… after today when do you think we'll hang out next?'

'I'm not sure, hopefully I get to go to Verrado… why? Is my presence that desirable?'

'You know Erik, you try to seem annoying and miserable but you're actually one of the nicest people a person could meet. You're just really good at making people think you're not.'

'Dang you've figured me out. My self loathing ficad is ruined now.' He smiled and bit his lower lip. My vision blurred for a moment but I blinked several times and looked at the floor to save myself from any more adorable things he'd do.

'Well I'm sorry you've been caught but now you have Meg and I as friends which apparently is an entertaining thing.'

'It really is. You two go at each other like sisters. How long have you guys known each other?'

"Well… I'm 16… so… uh 16 years. Her mother was my mothers best friend, so when my mother died her mom, Anne took me under her wing while my father worked.'

'So you two are practically sisters then.'

'Yeah pretty much… if you don't mind me asking, tell me no, piss off or whatever you want to tell me if I'm crossing a line here, but what really happened to your mom?' His face turned dark and he sighed.

'I… she left me with my dad. Which was for the best I guess. She was a spoiled bitch who didn't get the perfect son because of _her _errors and couldn't deal with it.'

Taken back by how he spoke of his mom I pushed a few inches further. 'What did she do?'

'She was a useless druggie while she was pregnant with me, and due to all her drug experiments I came out, not normal if you haven't noticed yet. She couldn't stand the sight of me so she left me with my father and my dad has been nothing but the perfect father for as long as I can remember so I can't be mad at her for leaving me with him.'

'I'm so sorry Erik. If I had known it was that bad I wouldn't have asked...'

'Oh I don't view it as bad, even if my dad was an asshole to me a lot of kids have had it worse than I have.'

'Well I guess that's one way of looking at it.' I felt an overwhelming urge to hug him but I knew he'd think I was weird, plus it'd be a total invasion of his very large personal space bubble. I smiled sadly at him once he turned to look back up at the sky and had a revelation. I realized that everything I was feeling for him, was just a new friend crush. It happens to all females when they make a new, attractive, guy friend especially right after a breakup. I sighed happily knowing all the mixed feelings being around him gave me would be gone sooner or later.

**2:30 AM**

I sat opened my eyes and felt to lumps under my head and realized they were legs. Seeing that it was dark outside and that the apartment was dark I shot up and searched the floor with my phone. I successfully found it and saw that it was two thirty in the morning and that I had fallen asleep and found my way to using Erik's legs as a pillow. 'Erik it's 2:30 we need to go!' His eyes opened and he looked over at me.

'What?' _Oh my god sleepy guy voice. The lord is testing me._

'It's two thirty in the morning. We need to go!'

'Oh shit!' He sat up and quickly got up along with me. He grabbed his jacket while I grabbed my purse and car keys.

'Ready?' he nodded and we hurried over to the door and left. I yawned heavily as I backed out of the parking space and turned onto the road. 'I am _so dead_ when I get home.'

'What the hell am I going to tell my dad?'

'I have no clue. At least I can just tell mine Meg and I accidentally passed out. Maybe tell him that you ran into a kid from school that you talked to on Friday and he invited you to hang out with him and some friends or something like that.'

'Possibly. I don't know, maybe he won't ask. I have a history of going rogue without telling him.'

'Well if he does ask, it's been nice knowing ya buddy.'

'Oh thanks.'

'No problem.' I smiled at him.

**20 Minutes Later**

'Bye Erik. I had a really fun time today.' I smiled at him.

'I did too even though you almost murdered me with hair dye fumes.'

'It's not a real party unless you almost die.' I giggled for a second but felt sad that I probably wouldn't be seeing him for a while.

'True that. Well I'll text you sometime, and _hopefully _I'll get into Verrado. If I do, see you there.' He opened the door and got out.

'Yep see you there.' I waited until he was in his car and it was started before leaving to go home. Once I pulled into the driveway I was relieved to see that the house was dark. I got my house key and quietly opened the door. I shut it behind me making sure to lock it as well. I hurried up the stairs and into my room as quietly as possible, and being as tired as I was I just took my clothes off and plopped down in bed. _They'll go away soon. _I repeated that in my head until I fell asleep.


	5. The Winter Dance

**Authors note: So this chapter is pretty much my 11th grade winter dance experience, (well not the very end and you'll all know the part I'm talking about since well I just got back BUT I'M STILL SO EXCITED ABOUT SEEING IT THAT I MUST WRITE ABOUT IT.)except the guy I liked wasn't masked, and his name was Nathan. Don't laugh because it really sucked! (He was a **_**really**_** drooly kisser. I had to try not to puke.) **

**Erik:**

'Nadir I don't know what to do. I think I'm starting to feel something for her.' I focused on the road to drop Nadir off at his school before going to Verrado.

'It'll pass, trust me. It's just you've never really had friends, girl friends at that. It's just a new experience.'

Not really believing what he was saying I continued. 'But she'd never like a guy like me so I do hope that you're right, because I might go insane if they don't.'

'I thought you were already insane...'

'Ha ha you comedic person you.' I pulled up to the curb of the school. 'Have a good day at school, son!' Nadir got out and stuck his tongue out at me before meeting up with Meg who was waiting for him. She excitingly waved at me and I did the same before pulling out into the street. It had been two weeks since we both transferred to Verrado, she had made a friend… what was his name… Jeremy yeah that was it. I found him rather annoying so I tried to stay clear of him in lou meant staying away from Christine because they were pretty much inseparable, but she always made time for me which I thought was unnecessary because I was used to not having friends. Barely seeing her made me realize what I had been trying to deny to myself for the first week of knowing her, I feel something for her. Jeremy was pretty much the whole package handsome, theatre guy who can sing, dance and act. She admitted to me that she wanted him to ask her to the winter dance which was at the end of the week, and has been freaking out over him not asking her for a few days now. I ignored the jealousy I felt for some reason, I mean I wasn't going to the dance anyway, but I would have… for her. I sighed as I pulled into a parking spot and got out not forgetting my backpack. This school definitely was better, I got less stares because of my mask, and even had a couple people tell me just how much they loved Gerard Butler in the 2004 Phantom of the Opera movie, and I had to fight back the urge to puke at the thought of the 2004 movie. I was minding my own business when Christine ran up to me screaming like a 5 year old girl and jumped on my back. 'Can I help you Christine?' I laughed and grabbed onto her legs so she wouldn't fall as I kept walking.

'Guess who asked me to the dance!'

Any decent mood I had was pretty much gone. 'Uh I don't know...' my face was even and my voice was as well.

'Jeremy! We need to go dress shopping!'

_We haven't been friends a month and I'm already friendzoned god damn what have I done? Was it playing with her nephew? That had to be it._ 'Ah! I'm so excited! Let's go after school!' I tried to sound excited but in reality I sounded like I was being a smartass.

'Jeremy said you and Meg could tag along if you wanted to!' she got down and ran to the front of me stopping me.

Getting irritated I tried to end the conversation. 'I don't think I'm going to the dance. I was planning on watching movies and eating my face off at home actually.'

'Please come! Come for me!' She tried to puppy dog face and it almost worked… just almost.

'No you and Jeremy have fun. Besides I think Meg would rather go with Nadir.'

'But I don't want you to feel left out!' Her voice was pretty much begging now.

'Christine, I'm used to not having friends, not going to dances and pretty much sticking to myself. Just because I have a couple friends doesn't mean I'm all of the sudden not going to be used to being by myself. I'm not going to the dance and that's the end of it.'

I saw tears swell up in her eyes and I felt horrible immediately. 'Oh well okay. I guess I'll see you at lunch then, right?' She tried to smile through it but wasn't doing a very good job.

'Christin-'

'I'll see you at lunch Erik.' and that was the end of the discussion. She turned and walked away from me and met up with Jeremy who was waiting for her at the end of the hall. He put his arm around her and she leaned into him as the walked out the door. I felt a surge of anger rush through me and tried my best to ignore it on my way to class. By the time lunch rolled around I felt even worse and Christine was obviously mad because she completely ignored me which hurt more than anything I've felt in my life. I accepted that it would take some time before I could apologize to her and drove home for lunch not wanting to eat school food or go out for food. Not being _completely _used to sulking in silence at lunch at lunch anymore lunch was a long process.

The rest of the day- hell the rest of the week I didn't see Christine unless we passed each other in the hallways and I saw such hurt in her eyes and Jeremy wouldn't let her stop so I couldn't apologize. I was sitting in my room Friday afternoon throwing a ball at my wall when I realized what I was going to have to do, and I wasn't going to like it. I got up from my chair and went over to my closet and grabbed my nicest outfit which consisted of dress pants and a button up shirt which was dark purple and I smirked at it as I laid it on my bed. I silently thanked my dad for not letting me get a black button up shirt and I got undressed. I thought back to the memory. '_Son you need to put some color in your outfit! You have black pants and black shoes, you aren't dying nor are you mourning someones death so pick a shirt that isn't black!' I sighed heavily annoyed by his insistence of me wearing color so I grabbed the darkest shirt I could find that wasn't black. It was a dark purple shirt and I didn't really like purple but apparently freakishly tall people don't wear dark red shirts because they had zero dark red shirts._ I started buttoning up the shirt and tried to remember where I put my dress shoes and remembered I threw them away because they were too small for me. I grabbed the next best thing, my all black vans. Once I was dressed I opened my nightstand drawer and changed my white mask to my black one. As happy as I could get with how I looked I grabbed my keys and bolted out my bedroom door and down the stairs. Like I had guess, Meg had picked Nadir up to go to the dance and my dad was at work so I had no one to question where I was going. I got out the front door and into my car and figured getting her a flower to add to the apology wouldn't be a bad idea, and I'd get one for Meg so I didn't look well weird especially when giving a rose to another guys date. I backed out of the driveway and made my way to the Bashas where her brother worked. I checked the time before getting out of the car and saw that the dance had started an hour and a half ago. _Shit. _I hurried into the store and went over to the flower section. Thankfully they had single roses, and two yellow ones at that. I grabbed them happy with my selection and was stopped by Norman on my way to the cashier.

'Who's the lucky girl?' he smirked and looked at the flowers.

'No one actually. I was pretty rude to Christine on Monday and her boyfriend or whatever hasn't let me apologize to her. So now I'm going to go to the dance, give her and Meg roses so I don't get punched by Christine's date for only giving her a rose, and apologizing. Because I feel horrible and I want to fix it.'

'She prefers lilies, but a yellow rose will do. Although I highly suggest getting her the dozen lilies.'

'No that's overdoing it. I'm not an expert on all this crap but I'm not hopeless.'

'You're right sorry. I'm being forced against my will by Sammi to give you advice on how to get my sister to like you… er no wait for you to like her? I don't remember fucking girls and their complex ways of getting guys.' He rubbed his temples in frustration.

'What do you mean?' Now this I was hopeless about.

'I don't know apparently a couple weeks ago when you two were over to watch movies and she did Sammi's obnoxiously bright hair she told Sammi that she liked you, but when she told me it was 4 AM, I was dealing with a screaming child and I was still working on getting over the alcohol in my system. Who knows what she said.'

'So you're saying she said she liked me? Why would she be clinging to Jeremy like a scared child clings to their parents then?'

'I don't know. Maybe she moved on, maybe she thinks you don't like her, maybe she realizes you two will never happen because you both are too damn stubborn for your own good, or maybe she has feelings for both of you. I'm not her so don't ask me. Good luck dude, I have to get back to work and to take some Aspirin for this headache.' He patted my shoulder and walked over to the break room area. I went over to the cashier and went through all the information Norman had just given me. _He was right, IF she had liked me, she must have gotten over it. Maybe she meant liked me as a friend since Sammi had asked if we were dating. _I felt a ping of hope inside me and tried to get rid of it. _She's with Jeremy now and she's happy. You aren't going to ruin it so stop thinking there's any chance of it happening. _I went through the motions from the cashier to the front of the school when I realized that I had been so absorbed in my thoughts I didn't know what I was going to say. Knowing if I thought about it now I'd change my mind and run off I went through the front doors of the gym and was welcomed with the most annoying dance music I had ever heard. _ .Dresses. _Pink, green, yellow, red, blue, purple, any color you could think of was in front of me in puffy fashion. I scanned the room and found Nadir and Meg dancing so I set ahead to get to them. Once I made it through the puffy jungle I tried to catch my breath before walking up to them. I got pushed by a ridiculously puffy pink dress and almost fell but caught myself. I hurried over to the safety zone where Meg and Nadir had gone to and smiled as I walked up to them trying to look like I wasn't almost murdered by mass amounts of cloth.

'Hey guys.' The two turned and looked at me, shocked to say the least.

'What are you doing here Erik? You don't like dances.'

I held out one of the yellow roses to Meg and she took it thanking me. 'Yeah well I wouldn't fucking be here if Jeremy would let Christine talk to me so I could apologize. I've been trying to for the past week. It's ridiculous! Now I'm dressed up like a clown because of him at a stupid dance.'

'Well I think you look handsome. Is that what Christine's been worked up about this week?' Meg smelled her rose and looked at me.

'Yeah I guess so. I wasn't in the greatest mood on Monday and she asked me to come to the dance with her and Jeremy, along with you and I said no. She kept pushing and I guess I was a little more snappy than I thought I was and she hasn't spoken to me since.'

'Dude she asked to to be the third, and or fifth wheel. I would have been snappy too.' Nadir looked at the dance floor.

'Yeah well apparently I shouldn't have been. Do you know where she is?'

'Uh I think if I heard her right they were going to go walk around school so she could be anywhere. Do you want us to help you find her?'

'If you guys want to but I can try and find her myself if you two want to stay here.'

'Nah let's help! You want to help, right Nadir?' she elbowed him and he nodded.

'Right… well uh I look around the 9th and 10th grade areas and you guys do 11th and 12th grade. Call me if you find her and try to keep her occupied until I do.' The three of us walked around the gym (why didn't I think of that?) and left the loud room to the silence of the December night. We split up and I went to the right, and they went to the left. After roaming through the first and second floor of 9th grade and went over to the 10th grade area and started roaming through the lockers and saw them in the 3rd row and immediately stopped. I felt like I was going to hurl at the sight of the two kissing. I threw the flower on the floor and ran off not wanting to see it, and knew everything I did tonight was all for nothing.

**Christine:**

We arrived at the dance and I wasn't all that excited. I was when he asked me, but he's been clingy, and just really controlling ever since then. He wouldn't let me talk to Erik, he wouldn't even let me hang out with Meg because he didn't know if Erik would be there or not, so I could only call her. He had deleted any and all things on my phone I had for contacting Erik so I couldn't call him, and when I wasn't with Jeremy, my dad was home and wouldn't let me go out. I felt hopeless, I felt like I was at the bottom of a hole and screaming at the top of my lungs and no one could hear me. Not being able to see Erik was taking an unhealthy toll on me. Since I was pretty much inside all day I was growing pale, I wasn't really eating or sleeping so I was getting thinner and I had dark bags under my eyes. We had danced for a couple minutes before Jeremy insisted we go somewhere quiet to "hang out" so I let Meg know just incase since last time I was with a guy in quiet place it didn't work out very well. He and I walked around for a while, and ended up in the 10th grade locker area when he decided to kiss me. It _sucked. _There was nothing there! I felt like I was kissing a potato! At least the potato would have been softer and less drooly. I stood there and just kinda did the motions when I saw Erik from the corner of my eye toss something on the floor and run off. As soon as I saw him I pushed Jeremy off of me and tried to run after him but forgot I was wearing a stupid dress. I picked the fabric up so I wouldn't trip and started running again. 'Erik! Wait come back!' I stopped at what he threw on the floor and saw it was a yellow rose and all the thorns had been cut off. I felt guilt for some reason and snapped some of the stem off and put the flower in my hair before Jeremy caught up to me.

'What just happened? I thought you two weren't friends anymore.' He wrapped his arms around my waist which was a little too much touching for me especially with an airhead like him doing so.

'No! Erik and I were friends until you made me stop talking to him!' I yanked his arms from around me. 'I don't think we are anymore because of you though. Way to go Jeremy. God! Why was I so stupid to believe you were any different from the rest of the guys?'

'What makes him any different than me?!'

'He wasn't born here! Arizona seems to have a shitty selection of guys that I'm stuck to pick from!' I picked my dress up once again and started running through the school hoping to even have a small chance of catching up to him. I got to the parking lot hoping to find his car, but didn't see it. I felt the urge to collapse and cry at the thought of not being friends with Erik anymore. This past week with Jeremy made me realize just how much I liked him, and that the feeling would probably only grow, not go away. I considered going to Meg for a ride back home but didn't want to ruin her night, so I started walking in the god forsaken heels I was wearing. I would most likely get blisters but I didn't care. 10 minutes into my walk just to my luck, it started raining. I had to fight the urge to cry again at how wrong tonight was going. I was walking up the side of the road right before I had to cross to get into where I lived when my heel got stuck in some mud and twisted my ankle. I fell on my butt and ditched the other shoe and finally broke down. 'My dress is a mess! I twisted my ankle! My fucking feet are killing me! I've lost one of my best friends! Can tonight get any worse?!' I started walking again despite the soreness in my ankle and started lightly limping across the street while crying because who wouldn't cry at this point? I started to shiver three houses away from mine and kept repeating to myself _Why why why why why why why why why_ and finally as I got to my house, lightening joined in on the fun. I opened the front door and was welcomed with warmth and the smell of my dads famous casserole. I felt some what better until I heard my dad's voice.

'What the hell happened to you Christine?' my dad walked out of the kitchen.

I wiped my nose and looked over at him. 'What does it matter?' I started up the stairs was stopped by my dad. 'What the hell do you want?! As you can tell I'm having a shitty night and you don't care about what's happening in my life the rest of the time so if you'd PLEASE do me the tremendous favor of keeping up with that trend I would be eternally grateful!' I shrugged his hand off my shoulder and climbed up the last four stairs. Once I got up to the second floor I wanted to stop and breathe but really wanted to get out of the dress I was wearing into some warm clothes, and go over to Erik's house and talk to him, if he was there. I went into my room and closed the door before unzipping the side of my dress and stepping out of it. I grabbed my towel from my floor and started drying myself off. Once I was dry I walked over to my closet and pulled my grey knit sweater dress out and some black warm boots. I put dry underwear on and a dry bra on then I got dressed. I decided to wear leggings so my legs didn't get cold when I went over to Erik's. After I was dressed I grabbed my phone and texted Meg to meet me at Denny's in an hour. I left my room and went over to my bathroom and saw my hair was a complete mess. I took it down and brushed it out so it was smooth and realized there was nothing to do with it so I grabbed a grey beanie from my hair accessory drawer (Don't ask. I'm not the most organized person ok.) and put it on my hair. Happy with my hair I looked at my makeup. Not smudge or anything but my foundation and work I put in to make my eyes look like I have actually been sleeping was completely gone. Being too tired to fix it I turned the light out and went downstairs slowly trying not to upset my ankle.

'Where are you going young lady?' My dad once again came out of the kitchen.

'To fix something that you don't care about, but I do.' I grabbed my second umbrella from the closet next to the front door and left completely ignoring whatever my father was saying. I was met with bitter cold and rain which I enjoyed now that I was warm. It took me about 10 minutes to get to Erik's house and felt relieved when I saw his car in the driveway, along with his fathers which I didn't know how I was going to deal with him. I got up to the door and rang the doorbell and wiped under my eyes to get rid of the tears I didn't realize I was shedding. When no one came to the door I rang it again. After several seconds his father came to the door and I shifted uncomfortably from his stare. 'Is Erik here? I haven't seen him in like a month and I wanted to make sure he was okay.'

'You're probably a sweet girl but he's not allowed to see you anymore.' He went to close the door but I stopped him not really knowing why.

'Sir I mean no disrespect but I walked down here with a twisted ankle to see your son in the rain. If you would just let me see him I would be indescribably grateful.'

He sighed and opened the door again. 'What's your name again?'

'Christine Daae, sir.' I picked at the handle of my umbrella nervously.

'I will let you talk to him for five minutes, IF he wants to see you. He came home in a horrible mood and he tends not to want to see anyone while in that mood. Come in and I'll go get him.' He handed me his hand to help me up the step.

'Thank you, sir.' I left my umbrella outside and closed the door behind me. I stood awkwardly in the entryway while he went upstairs to his room. A couple minutes and two door slams laters his father walked down the stairs and back over to me.

'I'm sorry but just as I guessed he doesn't want to see anyone at the moment. Would you like me to walk you home?'

I sighed and shook my head. 'No thank you sir. Thank you for giving me the chance to see him.' I opened the door and wiped my nose as I closed the door. I grabbed my umbrella and began walking the driveway when I remembered there was a way to get up to his room… I looked down at my ankle and question if the risk was worth it. Before I had made any rational thought towards it I was lightly walking over to the part of his house where I remember his room would be and saw the wood terrace thingy that had new vines growing on it. The terrace lead right up to his window and I saw his shadow in the window. I prepped myself for the climb then put my umbrella down next to me. I put my good foot up first and took a sharp breath from the light pain, I crawled on top of the terrace and over to his window. He was sitting at his desk throwing a ball at the wall. I shakily got up and tapped on his window hoping he'd hear me. He looked over at his window and I saw conflict in his facial features. He got up and went over to the door and left his room. I choked back a sob and tried not to lay down and die from all that was happening tonight but right before I won the argument to he walked back into his room with blankets and a towel. He set them down on his bed then walked over to his window and opened it.

'What are you doing Christine?' He looked anywhere and everywhere but at me.

'I wanted to apologize.' _For what? You didn't do anything._

As if he was reading my mind he said, 'For what? What did you do that requires you to apologize to me?'

'I-I don't know probably that I let Jeremy control me? I put him before our friendship and I'm sorry.'

'Like I said, you have nothing to apologize for. However I do.' He put his hand out for me to take and I gratefully did so since I didn't want to tempt my ankle more than I already did.

'Erik can you help a little bit? I don't want to put a lot of weight on my ankle.'

'What do you mean?'

'Long story.' I chuckled at just how crappy tonight was going when it wasn't really something to laugh over.

'I have time. May I?'

Not knowing what he meant I agreed anyway. 'Of course.' He put his hands on my hips and picked me up like it was nothing and awkwardly brought me through the window. He set me down and I made sure to favor my left ankle avoiding putting any weight on it if I didn't have to.

'So anyway, like I was saying, I'm sorry for how I acted on Monday. I just wasn't having a good morning, but either way I shouldn't have taken it out on you.' He grabbed a couple towels and handed them to me. I wrapped one around my shoulders and laid one on the floor so I could sit down. Once I sat down I laid my head back on the wall and sighed happy to be out of the rain.

'It's fine Erik. We all have those days.'

'Yeah I guess so… so what up with your ankle?' He sat down in front of me.

'Well after I saw you I chased after you, told Jeremy to fuck himself and when I didn't see your car at the high school I walked home in 5 inch heels, which wouldn't have been an issue if it didn't start raining. My shoe got stuck in some thick mud and I twisted my ankle, I walked home, changed, came over here and your dad said you didn't want to see me so I climbed up the terrace and here I am.'

'You climbed up the terrace with a twisted ankle? Jesus Christine could you be anymore stubborn?'

'I told you I would have been fine at the party.' I laughed lightly.

'Yeah I guess you would have.' He smiled and grabbed the blanket from his bed and wrapped it around me.

'Erik I'm never going to let another guy get between our friendship, I promise.' I put my pinkie out because pinkie promises is the holiest promise out there. He wrapped his around mine and we shook. 'Pinkie promises are the holiest of promises so when I pinkie promise you know I mean business.'

'Alright I'll keep you up on that promise.' He smiled.

'I guess I should go then, Meg is expecting me.' I stood up and favored my left ankle.

'I'll walk you home.' He stood and walked over to the door.

We walked out of his room and stopped at the stairs and he held his arm out for me.

'I can get down.' I climbed down putting minimal weight on my ankle, once I got down to the ground floor I smiled way too proud of myself. We headed out the door into the rain. 'I left my umbrella over by the terrace...'

'Okay just wait here I'll be right back.' He ran off to the side and I immediately missed the warmth from his body. Before I knew it he was running with the umbrella and his hair was wet which was ridiculously sexy but I violently shoved that thought aside. He held the umbrella over us to protect us from the rain, and we started to my house. The walk was long, silent and awkward. I didn't really know what to talk about and I'd rather have awkward silence instead of an awkward conversation so I kept quiet. I hated this, I wanted to go back to how we were before Jeremy forced himself between the two of us but knew it might take a while to do so. _Finally _he spoke. 'So what are you doing for winter break?'

'Well uh...' I cleared my throat. 'I'm probably just sit in my room and do vocal practices since there's a spring musical coming up and I want to audition.'

'Have they announced what it's going to be yet?'

'No but I wanna be prepared.'

'Well that sounds cool...'

'Yep… what are you doing for winter break?' I looked over at him.

'I think my dad wants to take Nadir and I up to Flagstaff to go skiing.'

'That sounds like fun! I hope you have a good time… when are you leaving?'

'Monday if we go.' We walked up to my house and Erik looked down at me. 'I thought your dad was at work.'

I smiled. 'I said that because my dad doesn't care about me unless it's about my future or a chance to punish me, and he'd most likely find a way to punish me over this. So I'd much rather take myself and just have my dad pay for it… which he'll yell at me over… I don't see a good way out of this.'We walked up to my car and he went to give me my umbrella but I refused to take it. 'Keep it. I'll get it back from you sooner or later.' I opened the car door and got in.

'Alright… well I'll see you at school next year. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.' He took his hand off the top of my car and stood up to walk away.

'Erik I lo- I'd love to see you before you leave.' I'd kick myself for almost saying that out loud later.

'Well you're grounded, and I'm really not supposed to be seeing you…'

'Which makes it all the more fun! My dad is never home anyway. Let's go see Thor! Do you like Thor? We can go see something else if you want.'

'No Thor sounds good. I'll call you tomorrow okay?'

'Please do. Jeremy made me delete all of your texts and calls along with your number.'

'What a dick.' He started spinning the umbrella around.

'Yeah pretty much. I'll wait for you to call.' I smiled one last time before closing my door and grabbing my spare keys from the glove department. I waved at Erik as we walked behind the car then started backing out.

My phone went off but knew better than to see who was calling me while driving so I made a mental note to check once I got to Denny's, luckily Denny's was just around the corner so it didn't take me long to get there. I grabbed my keys and struggled to get out of the car but after several attempts was standing and not falling. I closed the door and hopped over to the back door so I could open it and pull my crutches out. God they were a pain in the ass to get out of the car. After getting them out I took a deep breath while positioning them to their correct position and closing the door, I was a talented multitasker. I slowly hopped up the ramp and over to the door. Thankfully someone was nice enough to get both doors for me so I didn't die trying to get into a Denny's… that'd be a horrible death. Just imagine, **Blonde dies while trying to get into a Denny's because she's a moron. **_Yep that'd fit my personality perfectly._ I went up to the person who sat everyone down and smiled at her after she did so to me.

'How many?'

'Uh three, preferably a booth.' She grabbed three menus and crossed something off a chart before walking over to the left side of the restaurant.

'Right this way.' I followed her to a booth in the back of the restaurant.

I scooted into the booth.'Thank you, and I'm Christine if the two I'm waiting for ask for me instead of looking for me.'

'Alrighty.' She put down the menus then walked away. I took a deep breath and ended up yawning, tonight had been rough, and I knew Meg wasn't going to let me leave until she's told me how retarded I am and I got her all the pancakes she wanted. I started going over all that had happened that night and realized I still felt _horrible _for letting Jeremy get between Erik and I's friendship. I devised a plan, hoping Nadir would be of use I started to get antsy waiting for them to get here. Remembering someone had called me I fished my phone out of my purse and unlocked it to see it was my dad, _again. _Knowing I'd have to face him sooner or later I dialed his number and prepared for whatever he'd have instore for me. He picked up, and surprisingly didn't yell at me. '_Where are you Christine Marie Daae?_'

'Well at the moment, Denny's but I've been at my friends house fixing our friendship.'

'_What do you mean fixing your friendship?'_

'Really dad? Do you think I'm a slut or something?'

'_No! It's a legitimate question!'_

'Dad what does it matter? All you care about is me getting a business degree and punishing me. Can I go now?'

'_That is not true! I care about your well being Christine!'_

'So my well being is only safe if all you do is decide my future and ground me left and right? Has it _ever _occured to you that I might not want to get a business degree?'

'_Why wouldn't you want to get a business degree? It's a financially stable job!'_

'Oooo! Financial stability! None of that means anything when I'm not around for my kid when he or she will need me! I don't want to miss my kids life like you did with Norman and I! I want to give my kids a mom who's there when they need me, not so tired from work that I don't want to do anything and I'm bitchy at them _because _I'm so tired from work.'

'_I was there for you and Norman I don't know what you're talking about!'_

'Dad I'm not going to get into this argument in the middle of a Denny's. I'll be home later so you can yell at me then and ground me some more.' I hung the phone up as the host that helped me earlier showed Meg and Nadir over to the table. I looked down in my lap as Meg sat down across from me and scooted over so Nadir could sit down.

'So tell me what happened from the beginning since apparently you can't make good decisions without me to save your life.'

'Any other day I'd argue but tonight I'm too tired. I'll start from day one, so Erik and I somehow managed to get into Verrado and we got there it was a normal day, well all of the days were normal but whatever you know what I mean. Anyway a guy named Jeremy walked up to us at lunch and asked if he could sit down, I agreed and Erik just kinda sat there awkwardly, looking back at it I feel like the worlds shittiest person. Anyway it seemed like Erik was getting used to Jeremy hanging out with us but two weeks ago we just kinda stopped hanging out as much, I'd stop him after school to talk to him since he wasn't sitting with us at lunch anymore to see how his day went and that we should hang out sometime. He kept saying he was busy, had homework, sick, anything really that got him out of hanging out. Last week he started hanging out with us again and it was weird that he just randomly decided to hang with Jeremy and I but I was happy because he's really fun to hang out with. Things were going fine until Monday when Jeremy asked me to the winter dance and Erik got snappy with me after inviting him to come with us four-'

'YOU INVITED HIM TO BE THE FIFTH WHEEL CHRISTINE YOU DESERVED IT!'

'Meg lower your voice! I know what I did was stupid! I don't know what possessed me to invite him to be the fifth wheel so I'll add that to my evidence that I'm a retard portfolio. As I was saying, Erik got snappy with me after inviting him to come with us four and I was hurt at first and Jeremy asked was wrong so I told him, after that he somehow managed to get me to not stop and talk to him, made me delete all texts, calls and his contact from my phone, and if I wasn't with Jeremy my dad was home and wouldn't let me go anywhere! Fast forward to tonight as Jeremy and I were walking around the school he decided to kiss me, it was terrible I may add. It was slobbery, his lips were dry and there was just nothing there. The minute he kisses me Erk walks around the corner, throws the flower on the ground and disappears. By the time I told Jeremy the date was over, Erik was gone. I started walking home when it started to rain and my heel got stuck in some mud and I at the time thought I twisted my ankle. Fast forward half an hour, I go to your house, Nadir, to see Erik but your dad said he didn't want to see anyone and being the retard I am WITH a twisted ankle and it raining I climb up the terrace and talk to Erik that way. He helped me in and after we both apologized he walked me home. We made plans to go see Thor this weekend before you two and your dad leave for Flagstaff on Monday.'

'Yeah good luck with that. My dad is anal about packing and making sure we're ready before any trip. I'll be amazed if he's allowed to leave the house this weekend.'

I felt my heart drop to my feet. 'Oh right well it wasn't set in stone or anything so if he can't then it's cool.'

'Well… if he can't go I'll go with you to see it! Mom and I aren't leaving till Wednesday!' Meg tried lightening to mood a bit.

I smiled trying to cover my dissapointment up and thought I was doing an ok job. 'Sounds like a deal, Meg.'

'Hey can I get you guys something to drink?' a guy with bleach blonde hair walked up to the table.

'Uh can I get some hot chocolate please?' I felt like a 5 year old ordering it but hey, hot chocolate is the best.

'I'll take water please.' Meg closed her menu and put it on top of Nadir's.

'Water for me as well.'

'Alright well are you guys ready to order or do you need a couple minutes?'

'Uh I'm ready if you two are.' I closed my menu and set it down.

'I'm ready.' Meg smiled and rubbed her hands together.

'Yeah I'm ready as well.' Nadir grabbed my menu and set it on their menu's.

'Alright well who ever wants to start.' He pulled a pen out of his apron.

'Can I get the grand slam with 2 things of pancakes, bacon and eggs please.'

He nodded his head and wrote down her order before looking at Nadir and I. Nadir pointed at me to go. 'Can I get the Prime Rib Cobb salad please?' He once again nodded and wrote down my order then looked at Nadir.

'Yeah can I get what she's having please?' He motioned to Meg and handed him the menu's.

'Oh! Nadir does Erik like pancakes?'

'Yeah why?'

'No reason.' I shrugged my shoulders and looked up at our waiter. 'Can I get a side of pancakes to go, and skip the butter on top please.'

'Would you like me to bring them out with your bill?'

'Yes! That'd be perfect thank you!' I shifted in my seat so I could stretch my leg out. He smiled and turned to walk away from the table.

'So why are you buying Erik pancakes?' Nadir looked at me questioningly.

'I'm bribing him with pancakes to forgive me. I still feel like crap for treating him the way I did.'

'Oh well there's no better way to earn a man's forgiveness than pancakes.'

'True dat!' Meg put her hand up and Nadir high fived her after seeing that it was up. I laughed at them.

**2 Hours Later**

I pulled up to the curb of Erik's house and grabbed my Denny's bag. It was still raining, but definitely not as bad as before. I quietly went around to the terrace where I climbed up earlier and picked a small rock up from the ground after seeing that his light was still on. I gently tossed it at his window and smiled when it actually hit the window. Several seconds later he was opening his window while looking at me quizzically. I fought back retarded laughter at what I was about to do. 'O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse thy name; Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, And I'll no longer be a Capulet.' I took a risk with him not knowing I was kidding, well only a little, but what he didn't know wouldn't kill him, right?

He put one hand over his heart and the other on his forehead. 'Shall I hear more, or shall I speak at this?'

''Tis but thy name that is my enemy; Thou art thyself, though- shit I forgot the rest… I brought you pancakes!' I held the bag up trying to cover up my total fail from forgetting one of the most popular lines of a play in… ever.

'You sure know your way to a guys heart. Romeo and Juliet, rain and fluffy goodness! I'll be down in a minute.' He closed his window and I made my way over to the front door. A couple seconds after I got to the door, Erik did so as well. He smirked went to help me in but I shook my head.

'I'm just dropping them off… it's late and I don't want you to get in trouble with your dad.'

'He's asleep so I'll be fine.' He went to help me again but I felt not... what's a good word for that…worthy? Yeah worthy of his help so I handed him the bag instead.

'I uh I hope you like M&M's.' I carefully went up the step into his house.

'I love them. M&M's should be their own food group in my opinion.' We went into his kitchen and he pulled out a chair at the bar for me and I sat down relieved to not be on my ankle.

He smirked while pulling the pancakes out of the bag and I felt embarrassed as he did so at my ridiculous gesture it now looked like. He looked down at the pancakes with M&M's spelling out 'sorry' and tried not to smile, laugh, die of laughter I couldn't tell. 'You just… I feel like I'm in a romance novel right now, not the ones with the giant half naked guys on the cover with ridiculously long hair, but like Twilight or something. I love it.'

I fought the urge to go home and stuck the embarrassment out. 'Princess Diaries actually, which is a movie with Anne Hathaway in it, and what's an apology without a type of food with M&M's on it? I could have had it done in whipped cream but it would have melted by the time I got here.'

'Oh! I've seen that movie, it's was cute and if it were on TV I'd maybe watch it, but I wouldn't deliberately watch it again. It's the one where she has really puffy hair and sasquatch eyebrows for part of the movie and she's the princess of this random country where they like pears?'

I laughed a bit at his description of the movie. 'Yeah that's the one. I can't believe you've seen it before.'

'Well between you and me, Nadir's kinda a girl in some aspects of his life, like for instance, movies. The guy can't watch a horror movie to save his life. Do you know how crappy it is to watch horror movies alone on Halloween?'

'In fact I do, Meg is a wimp with horror movies. The scariest movie I've gotten her to watch is Halloween H2o which I can't even qualify as a horror movie because when I first saw it when I was like 8 I was home alone at night and it didn't emotionally scar me or anything, in fact I was laughing through the movie.'

'I don't think any of the Halloweens are worthy of the horror title they claim except the Rob Zombie versions. Those are the best in my opinion.' He opened the pancakes and got a fork from the drawer.

'Rob Zombie versions?'

'Y-you've seen the Rob Zombie remakes for Halloween? Oh lawrdy I'm fixing that after I get back.'

'I look forward to it, because if I can at least like one of the Halloween's I'll be a proper horror movie junkie.'

'And I shall make you the proper horror movie junkie.' We both laughed quietly not wanting to wake his dad up. I looked over at the clock and saw it was 11, knowing my dad would be up waiting I stood up and grabbed my purse.

'I should go. My dad is waiting for me to get home so he and I can talk.'

'Oh alright. Are we still going to see Thor before I leave? If not that's cool but I'm just curious.' We walked over to the door and he held it open for me.

'Yeah at least I think we are. Nadir said your dad is anal about packing and all that so if you can then I'm still up for going.' He came outside with me and walked me over to my car.

'Awesome. I'll call you tomorrow morning, 11ish and let you know if I'll be able to escape.' he opened the drivers door for me.

'Oh thank you…' I got in the car.

'You're welcome. I have a very serious question to ask you, Christine.' he bent down so he could see me.

I felt my mouth go dry. 'What's that?'

'Do you recite Romeo and Juliet outside every persons window after a rough patch in your friendship?'

Not sure how to answer this and where he was going with the question I thought for a moment. 'Well I mean I bought Meg pancakes earlier because of my moronic decisions, and uh… honestly I don't think any fights between any of my friends, which is just you, Meg and Nadir now, I've had the chance to do so.'

'Awesome.' He smiled and stood up. 'I'm gonna go back inside, do you know where Nadir is?'

'Uh I think he and Meg went back to the dance since it doesn't end till midnight.'

'Okay, thanks Christine, for the pancakes and such.'

I looked up and out of the car. 'Call me Chris or Chrissy.' I smiled at how handsome he looked with his stupid wet hair and his stupid gold eyes in the rain and moonlight.

'Right, well I'll see you later Chris.' He tapped the top of my car before walking over to his house and went back inside. I drove down our street preparing myself for the upcoming fight between my father and I, as I pulled into the driveway my small hope that he'd be asleep was crushed when the lights in the house were on. Knowing sleeping in my car wasn't an option I got out, and walked into my impending doom.

'Dad… I'm home.' I looked in the dining room, his office and the kitchen before finding him sitting on the couch in the family room.

'Hey honey...' he sat up from his relaxed position.

'So I guess we should finish our argument then.' I went over to the chair next to the couch he was sitting on and sat down.

'No I don't want to argue anymore, you were right.'

I looked up from my feet and blinked several times trying to compute what he just said. 'I'm sorry did you just say in the same sentence, you don't want to argue AND that I'm right?'

'Yes I did. I need you to know that I did what I could for this family, only knowing to earn as much money as I could for Norman and you so you guys could have most everything you want. Now, I'm not taking your restriction away for that party stunt you pulled in November, but you're right about that as well. I find something wrong in everything you do, and I punish you over it. Now I know I can't make up for missing out on most of you and Norman's lives, but for starters I want to give you this.' He handed me a folder and I looked at it then back at him.

'What's this?'

'Just open it and you'll see. I was going to give it to you on Christmas but seeing you really wouldn't have much time to pack so I'm giving it to you tonight.'

I narrowed my eyes and slowly opened to folder to see what it contained. I felt my heart stop at the sight of two- wait no _three, wait what? _'Why three plane tickets dad?'

'One for you, one for Meg, and one for that Jeremy character who's been around the past week.'

I looked up at him. 'He kissed me tonight.'

'Yeah okay so Meg, you and one friend of your choosing that isn't Jeremy nor are they going to try and kiss you.' I laughed a little bit and pushed the airline tickets out of the way and saw reservations for a hotel in downtown Toronto and a receipt for tickets to Les Miserables on the 28th, 29th and 30th of December.

'Dad how are we going to check into the hotel room? None of us are 18.'

'Well that's when being a business man come into play, I have a work friend who is going to Toronto with you guys because he has a business meeting and that's when this whole thing became a reality since I couldn't think of a way to get you guys into a hotel room once you got there. I already have the letter giving you permission to go into Canada without me, and a copy of your mothers death certificate just in case they want it, I've called Anne and they aren't going to California anymore since this is really a once and a life time opportunity for you all. I've opened three reloadable cards for you three with 250 dollars on them, that should cover all expenses. I trust between your closet and Meg's you'll be able to find something to wear for the nights and promise me something,' He looked me in the eyes and honestly I was about explode from how excited I was.

"What's that?'

'Have fun, this is an expensive trip.'

'Where did you get the money for this dad? You said I could take _anyone?'_ I tried to think of someone who would want to go and my mind went over to Erik's worn out Les Miserables book.

'Anyone but Jeremy, and it's from your mothers life insurance she left with us. I was going to save it for your wedding or something like that but like I said, once in a lifetime opportunity here.' he put his hand on my knee and smiled.

I took in that he's actually spending some of the money finally from her death. 'And does Ra-'

'He has Thursday's off and you're going on a Saturday, Sunday and Monday night. You'll leave the 27th and come on the 3rd since it's cheaper to have you all stay there for 8 days than it would be to fly you all back to see things you could've seen while you were there this time.'

'What about New Year's Eve? Don't you guys want us home for that?'

He waved his hand dismissively. 'How many chances do you guys have to go see your favorite whatever he is in one of your favorite musicals as Jean Valjean in Toronto with your friends? There's plenty of New Year's Eve's.'

I went to get up to give him a hug but he got up and did it for me. 'Thank you dad… two more things though.' He broke the hug and sat back down to listen. 'Can I use my scholarship to get a Musical Art's degree? I'm not the greatest dancer but I think I have what it takes when it comes to singing and acting.'

'Theatre isn't the most stable area to be working in...' I gave him my puppy dog face. 'But if it makes you happy I guess I'm fine with it.' He smiled as I sighed in relief at how well this night was going despite the earlier shit storm. 'What's the second thing?'

'Oh right. I know who I want to take, but his dad doesn't really, I don't know what his dad is. I don't want to say he doesn't like me, but I guess he doesn't like me. Do you think you could talk to him for me? You're good at convincing people to do things.'

'Why wouldn't he like you?'

'Well… let's just say that I gave his son's alcohol which was a no no for him.'

'Ah I see. Well if he's really who you want to take then find out when I can go talk to his father for you… he won't try to kiss you, will he?'

I chuckled and combed my hair free of any knots. 'No he won't. He doesn't think of me that way.'

'Well he's good in my books then.' We stood up and he put his arm around my shoulder as we walked over to the stairs. 'Let's go to bed. I'll make you breakfast in the morning, sound good?'

'Sounds amazing.'

We climbed up the stairs, slightly uncomfortable I'll admit. 'I'll see you in the morning Chris.'

'See you in the morning dad.' I smiled to myself as he walked into his room. _Maybe things will turn around. _I went into my room and prepared myself for bed. Once I laid down I took one of my many pillows and propped my ankle up on it hoping it'd help with it getting better. I pulled my covers up and closed my eyes and let sleep take me to for once, a dreamless sleep.

**Authors note: Sweet baby jesus that was a long chapter. There was just a lot I needed to cram into it that I couldn't put in the next chapter, this chapter was a turning point in Erik and Christine's relationship, er maybe I don't know I have 5 different outcomes with how and when they get together and it's just a matter of picking… oh the hardships of being a writer!**


	6. Movie d- hang out!

**Erik: **

I had been staring at the phone for the past hour, and it was now eleven AM meaning Christine would be waiting for me to call. I didn't know why I was so nervous, it was probably because she and I never really gone and did something just us two, and I didn't want her to think of it as a date. I was trying to do what Nadir said, view her as a friend and a friend only but everything she does amazes me, even wet from the rain she's as beautiful as a person could be, she's smart, funny- I shook my head ridding myself of the thoughts and picked my phone up. I took a slow deep breath as I dialed her number and froze right before I was about to press call. _Do it moron._ I rolled my eyes at myself and quickly pressed the call button. _No going back now. _I put the phone up to my ear as it started to ring. 'IS YOUR DAD HOME?!'

'Ah!' I fumbled with the phone for a moment before managing to bring the phone back to my ear. 'What was that?'

' . ME.'

'Uh yeah he's home… why?' I scratched the back of my neck in confusion.

'I'LL BE OVER IN A MINUTE TELL YOUR DAD TO BE DRESSED BECAUSE WOW I'M EXCITED.'

'What are you even-' the line went dead. I put my phone back on my desk and went down to the kitchen where my dad was drinking his 12th cup of coffee for the day and still seemed tired. 'Hey dad uh a very excited Christine is coming over to talk to you- about what I don't know because she was too busy talking about how excited she was.'

'She wants to talk to me? Why do I find that hard to believe?' He set his coffee and newspaper down to look at me.

'I don't know she was _really _excited though so just hear her out.'

'How did we go from never seeing her again to me talking to her on a Saturday morning?'

'Uh I don't know, maybe the fact that I've not gotten in trouble since that party?'

'Yeah but you two are going to different schools so your point is pretty much invalid.'

I rubbed the back of my head. 'Yeah about that...'

He looked up to the ceiling as if asking _Why me? _to whomever might be up there. 'She's going to your school.' he wasn't really asking, more like confirming in a _I should have known _tone of voice. 'You know what fine, since you two seem set on talking I'll give her _one last chance _but if I find out that you two have been drinking or smoking or doing anything you two really shouldn't be doing I'm sending you to an all boys boarding school.'

'Deal!' Just as I was going to go upstairs and change into my not pajamas the doorbell went off and my dad looked at me like _I'm doing this for you, you go open the door. _So I walked over to the door and opened it, to find it was still raining and that Christine brought her dad over who was smiling at me. Not an expression I had seen him use but I liked it. I opened the door wider so the could come in and looked at Christine who was fighting to stay still. 'So what brings you two here today?'

'AH!' Her father and I looked at Christine who was jumping.

'Is she al-'

'She's been doing this all morning, she should be fine but I don't think the coffee she drank helped.' She started snickering like a madman.

'Let's get her a seat… I threw my tranquilizer gun out this morning, if I had known she'd need something I would have kept it.' I guided them to the living room and sat them down. 'Would you like some coffee…?'

'Call me Gustave and yes please, black is fine.'

'Coffee?' Christine looked up from picking at her pants.

'You get water.' I left the room and realized I still didn't know why they were here. 'Gustave, her father is here as well.'

'So I heard.' He put his newspaper down and stood up. I grabbed a mug from the cabinet and poured some into the mug and grabbed a water from the fridge. I walked out to the living room and handed him his coffee and the fidgeting Christine her water.

'So what's going on exactly?' Gustave pulled a folder out of his jacket and handed it to my dad. _What is this some secret mission or something?_ My dad opened it and his mouth fell open. 'What is it?' I was starting to get impatient. My dad looked at it for several more seconds before handing it to me.

He cleared his throat and looked at Gustave. 'And I'm assuming you're wanting my son to go with you?

'Ah well I won't be going, her friend Meg will, but I have a good friend in there who's going to be staying in the same hotel as them in case they need help, and they have a good amount of funds to carry them through the trip.'

'And Erik, does this sound like something you'd want to do?' I was still staring at the contents of the folder speechless.

'I-I yes but I mean does she really want me to go? We've only been friends for a month. Surely she has someone else she'd rather take.' I closed the folder and set it down on the coffee table.

'No I want you to come. I have no one else I'd rather take than you two.' Gustave looked at her in shock.

'She hasn't been able to form a coherent sentence all morning. Did you put something in her water?'

'No I didn't put anything in her water.' I laughed a little bit and sat up straight.

'Please come- wait why isn't your dad saying no?' She looked over at my father curiously.

'He convinced me to give you another chance, and please call me Kenneth.'

'Oh… well thank you… like I was going to say, please come Erik. It'll be fun! We'll drag you around downtown Toronto after the show trying to find Ramin while crying over how amazing it was.'

'Okay I'll go, but once I get a job I'll pay you back for everything.'

'No this is all paid in full by me. I'm trying to make amends with my daughter and I want this to be the start of it. So please don't worry about paying me back.'

Feeling a bit awkward to be letting Christine's father pay for a probably 4 grand trip all on his own made me feel a bit awkward but I tried to push it aside. 'Alright. I can't thank you enough though.'

'You're welcome Erik. Now the flight leaves at 6:25 so you two need to be up and going to pick Meg up by 4 AM so you don't miss your flight. You stop in North Carolina for a four hour layover then you arrive in Toronto at 6:15 their time… I think I don't know what time zone they put the arrival in. Point is you're going to have a long 10 hour day of travel ahead of you. My friends name is Josh, he'll be waiting for you at your gate to take you back to the hotel and to make sure you have everything you need.'

'Alright… and you're okay with me not being here for New Years Eve, dad?'

'Eh I'll probably for once in 16 years drink on New Years Eve and have a good ole time. Maybe watch movies with Nadir, but nothing scary. I swear that kid has the capability to watch horror movies like a 5 year old girl.'

Christine and I tried not to laugh remembering our conversation last night. 'Eep! I'm so excited I'm going to see Ramin live and possibly meet him oh my god I think I'm going to cry! I need to tell Meg.' Gustave put a calming hand on her knee.

'Christine you already told Meg.'

'Oh right… how did you know that? I called her in my room.'

'You underestimate the power of an excited teenage girl scream on a Saturday morning.'

'Did we wake you up?'

'Nope I was up at 7:30 wondering what I was doing up at 7:30.' He smiled and sat back.

'Oh well as long as we didn't wake you up!' She smiled either not understanding that he was woken up by them and or chose to ignore it and play along. She looked over at me. 'We have a movie to go to- that is of course if Kenneth is okay with it.'

'As long as he's packed and ready to go by Monday I don't care what he does this weekend.' he stood up and grabbed his coffee mug. 'So Gustave how do you feel about football?' He motioned for her dad to follow him.

'I love football.' he stood and they went into the kitchen.

'We aren't going to see them again all day.' I shook my head and stood up.

'Oh I know my dad can go on and on about how crappy the Cowboy's are.'

'Oh god they're going to be inseparable. My dad hate's the Cowboy's too. Well I'm gonna go get dressed really quick and I'll be back down ready to go.'

**Christine:**

'Alright.' I smiled as he went up the stairs and pulled my phone out to text Meg once he was in his room. 'Meg he's coming! This trip is going to be perfect.'

'_I swear to god if you don't kiss him on this trip I'm going to super glue you two together until you do.'_

'Meg I don't like him that way, nor does he like me that way.'

'_Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhmygoooooooooooooooooooooood do you need a guiding stick? Because you're blind I swear.'_

'Why am I blind?'

'_You obviously like him!'_

'I obviously do not!'

'_Yeah ya do.'_

'Nope.'

'_Yeah.'_

Erik came out of his room and started walking down the stairs. 'I gotta go Erik's ready to leave.'

'_Erik and Christine sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g first comes love then comes marriage then comes a baby in a baby carriage. Wait is that how that goes? I don't remember.'_

'I don't know Meg I stopped saying that in 3rd grade.'

'Ready?' Erik walked over to where I was sitting and sat down on the armrest of the chair next to me.

'Yeah.' I pulled myself up.

'So Thor still?' we started walking down the hallway.

'Yeah unless there's something else you'd like to see.'

'Nah Thor's good.' We waved to our fathers who were still talking about football and drinking coffee as we walked over to the front door. 'My car is being used by Nadir today so we'll have to take you car.'

'That was my plan.' I smiled as I walked outside to the still rainy weather.

'So why is your dad letting us go to the movie exactly? I thought you were grounded.'

'Oh yeah I gave him my report card and I had all A's so he gave me a day off.'

'Well that was nice of him.'

'Yeah just two more months of being grounded not including today and when the three of us are in Canada.' We got up to the car.

'So how's your ankle?'

'It's doing good. A little sore but thankfully it hasn't swelled so it's not broken.'

'I still can't believe you climbed up that terrace with a twisted ankle in the rain.'

'What can I say? I do stupid things for friends.'

'Yeah I guess so. I'll climb into your room one night with a twisted ankle just so we're even.' I chuckled at his gesture.

'Don't twist your ankle purposely.'

'I'm not _that _stupid.'

Deciding to switch the subject because we were about to get into a conversation I didn't want to have in case I let something slip that I didn't want him to hear. 'So are you excited for Flagstaff?'

'Yeah. We haven't gone skiing in a couple years so it'll be fun.'

'You know I tried skiing when I was like 13 when Norman and Sammi took me up to Flagstaff for my 13th birthday and I fell a lot.'

'It takes a good amount of balance and concentration.'

'You see those are the two traits I just don't possess.'

'You have to go skiing sometime. You'll be fine!'

'And if I die while skiing you don't get my favorite pair of skinny jeans.'

'That's a steep price to pay…I don't think I can give up those skinny jeans. I mean they just make my butt look so good.'

I bit back a smile. 'Well I guess then I won't be skiing.'

'Or you can just attempt not to die.'

'Ah good point.' I pulled into the parking spot and turned the car off. We got out of the car and headed to the theater.

'Do you wanna get some hot chocolate at Starbucks after the movie?' I almost slipped in a puddle but Erik grabbed me, saving my life. 'See! Death almost got me right then!'

'Well a, I'd love to get hot chocolate after the movie and b, you didn't almost die because I- I don't think that fall would have killed you. You probably would have hurt your hand or something.'

'Well who know's what could have happened due to hurting my hand. We could swerve off the side of the road and crash into a gas tank truck that just happened to be parked where our car lands.'

'You're such an optimist.' He smirked as we walked up to the theater.

'Well ya know.' I pulled my wallet out of my purse.

'How can I help you?'

'Two for Thor at 12:15 please.' I went to give him my cash but Erik stopped me before I could.

'I'll pay.'

'But invited you, not the other way around.'

'So? Paying.' He pulled out cash and put it through the hole in the window.

'Thank you...' I looked down at my feet and started questioning my choice of shoes for some reason.

'You're welcome. So be honest, do you find Chris Hemsworth hot?' He took the tickets and change from the hole and we walked away.

'Yeah I'd do unspeakable things to him.'

He put on a fake British accent. 'Naughty naughty.'

'And proud. He's the biggest eye candy I've ever seen… well besides Ramin Karimloo, Hadley Fraser, Jensen Ackles, Jared Padalecki, George Blagden, Fra Fre, Benedict Cumberbatch, Tom Hiddleston, Matt Smith, Neil Patrick Harris-'

'Yeah you have a long list of hot guys I get it.'

'You can tell me what girls you find hot if you want to.'

'Nah I don't find many girls cute.'

'Well what girls _do _you find cute?' _Please don't be gay please don't be gay __**please**_ _don't be gay._

'I don't know uh the mom from Insidious, Lindsay Lohan pre drugs was pretty cute, Karen Gillan, yes I watch Doctor Who, uh wait here's one that might shock you, Sierra Boggess.'

'You know who she is? All excellent choices by the way.'

'Yeah Nadir made me watch the 25th anniversary Phantom of the Opera and she was pretty cute.'

'She's a pretty good singer too.'

'That too.'

'So do you want anything for the movie? I'm buying, no arguing.' I brought my cash out of my pocket while we stood in line.

'Whatever you get as long as it's not chocolate covered raisins is good.' I scrunched my face up.

'Yuck. Raisins are definitely _not _natures candy. So popcorn and soda?'

'Yeah that sounds good.'

'Oh why hello Christine, who's this? I'd say your boyfriend but who want's to date a virgin nerd?'

I saw my happiness flying through the window. 'Carlotta can't you find entertainment besides pointing out that I'm smart enough not to fuck every guy that smiles at me?'

'Wait this is Carlotta? I was at that school for like an hour and I heard she was pregnant with five different guy's babies.'

'I'll forgive you since you have a sexy voice.' She winked at him and I felt anger that she'd have the audacity to flirt with the guy I liked even though he didn't know I liked him.

'Carlo-'

'Erik let's just go. She's not worth getting worked up over.' (Who takes their own advice now a days?) I pulled at his arm the best I could. We turned to walk away when Carlotta spoke up.

'I'm dating Raoul now.' She looked like a fish with the face she was making.

'And I care why?'

'You dated him for a year, you should care.' She crossed her arms and pursed her lips even more.

'Carlotta I'm more interested in Kim Kardashian's fake butt than who you and or Raoul are dating.' Erik and I turned to walk away and successfully did so on the second attempt.

'Well you two seem like good friends.'

'Besties.' I smiled as we walked up to a free cashier.

'Hey what can I get you two?' The guy wiped the counter down in front of us.

'Can we get a uh large popcorn and I'll take a medium sprite please.'

'I'll take a medium coke.'

'Mmm coke...' I thought about getting one instead of a sprite.

'No caffeine.'

I groaned and handed the guy the cash. 'Fine! If I doze off while driving it's on you.'

'That's when I know I should drive us home just in case.'

'Nah we'll be fine.' I waved a dismissive hand and took the two drinks from the guy and set them down on. He was back a minute later with the popcorn. 'Thank you.' I picked my soda and the popcorn up. He picked his soda and we started walking over to the theater but stopped to get straws and napkins because you always need napkins. We walked into the theater and scanned over the seats seeing that it was practically empty we had free seating. 'Erm disabled seats?' We laughed and I elbowed him lightly making sure not to hurt him or spill our snacks.

'Back of the theater? The back row is empty so we can sit in the middle.'

'Sounds good.' We climbed up the stairs to the very back and walked to the middle of the row. I sat down happy with my not dying while climbing up the stair and a couple seconds later Erik was next to me.

'I underestimated you, forgive me. Will you teach me your ways?'

'Ah young grasshopah you shall learn the way soon enough.' I somehow managed to keep a straight face until the very end when he started laughing. I almost spilled my drink from laughing but thankfully I stabled it right before I would have dropped it. I put it in the cupholder and he put the popcorn between us. I took a piece and popped it in my mouth.

'So are you excited to meet your big crush this month?'

I felt myself blush._I've already met him and he's sitting right next to me._'Uh yeah I guess. I hope I don't make myself look like a fool or anything.'

'Impossible.'

'Erik you've seen me with less clothes than Raoul ever did all within a day of our friendship. The second time I admit was my doing because I was over everything that night.'

'Still didn't look like a fool. You looked like you were wearing a dress too big for you and that you were well... over everything that night. As soon as you started lifting your shirt up I turned away, I promise you that.'

'Well thank you for not looking while I had a small mental break down.'

'No problem… Wait why'd you bring up making yourself looking like a fool around me?'

Ever had a moment where your butt puckers? Yep… that was my butt pucker moment. 'I uh was just saying I'm good at making a fool of myself around people.'

'What about Meg?'

'She's my sister Erik, she can't judge me.'

'Oh well that makes sense.' The lights dimmed and I started jumping in my seat from excitement.

'Yeah definitely no caffeine.' We quietly laughed while I attempted to sit still.

**Two Hoursish Later**

'I need to have his children.' I took my change from the barista and we walked over to the waiting counter.

'You'll change your mind the first time you don't get to sleep through the night.'

'Yeah probably but you get the point.'

'You find the Loki guy hot? He does have some nice cheekbones...' We grabbed our drinks from the counter and went over to a couch and sat down.

'So what are you going to wear the nights we're at the theatre?'

'I'm probably going to have to steal some of Nadir's money and buy a nice jacket and some new dress shoes.'

'Yeah probably.' I laughed and took a sip of the hot chocolate.

'Should I even ask what you and Meg are going to wear?'

'Well on Saturday night we're going to wear dresses and then Sunday and Monday just formal/casual.'

'You two aren't going all out for this? I have to say I'm shocked.'

'Well ya'know we're full of surprises.'

'That's an understatement… so what's the deal with Carlotta to make her treat you like that?'

I felt the happy mood would soon come to an end. 'Oh right, well it was 10th grade and remember that spring musical I was telling you about? Well she and I were going for Elphaba Thropp and I got it, but she was my understudy and a choir member. Ever since she's been making my life hell as if I was the one who picked her roles.'

'Wow she sucks.'

'Yeah pretty much… I didn't go to school for a month once because I was depressed over the constant harrassment I was getting from her and her clan.'

'No one should have to go through that. Want me to kill her?' I almost had hot chocolate shoot through my nose from laughing.

I took a moment to gain my composure but when I did I said, 'No thank you Erik. Although the gesture is touching I'd prefer to have more movies and hot chocolate hangouts than visiting you in prison.'

'Aw you'd visit me in prison?' I nodded while taking a sip of my drink. 'How nice of you since I murdered a bitch for ya and it's the least you could do. Maybe bring a couple packs of cigarettes so I can befriend the local gang members.' I swallowed the sip of hot chocolate I had taken quickly so I didn't spit it out in the process of laughing but somehow it went down the wrong tube and I started coughing. Then Erik started laughing at my coughing because I started laughing and he nearly spilled his drink while laughing, and due to him almost spilling his drink, we laughed for an unnecessary 5 minutes.

'Oh my god.' I pushed my cheeks in trying to get used to not smiling like that again and wiped a couple tears from my eyes from laughing so hard. From inside my purse my phone started blaring that song about Foxes which meant Meg was calling me so I pulled it out while laughing at the weird look Erik was giving my phone while laughing. 'What's up Meg?'

'_Where are you?'_

'Uh Starbucks with Erik. Why?'

'_Come over here now.'_

'Will do I just need to drop him off at home.'

'_Now.'_

'I-ugh okay.' I hung the phone up and looked over at Erik. 'Meg requires our presence.'

**An Hour Later**

We walked up to Meg's house and I pulled my keys out to unlock the door. I opened it up and let Erik go first since I had to put my keys away. Once I got in Erik closed the door behind me and we walked over to the kitchen where Anne was. 'Hey mom.' I went over to her and gave her a hug.

'Hello Christine, who is this handsome fellow?' She looked over to Erik then back at me.

He's Erik we met hmm almost a month ago I think.' He nodded not sure if he should talk or not.

'Right well I won't keep you two. Meg has been in her room squealing since she came home from the mall with… oh dear what was his name...'

'Nadir?'

'Yep that's it! Do you guys know anything about him? He seems nice but Meg won't let me scare anything out of him.'

'He's my brother and a really good guy. I can assure you, you have nothing to worry about.'

'Oh well that's good.' Knowing she was about to interrogate Erik I turned and walked over to the stairs and he promptly followed. We climbed up the stairs and went over to Meg's door and I knocked not wanting to flash Erik in case she were changing. She opened the door and pulled us in.

'What is going on Meg?'

'Go into my bathroom and try what's on in there! I found it and I loved it but it looked bad on me and knew it would look good on you so go!' She pushed me as much as she could out of her room and into her bathroom before I could protest.

I looked at the black floor length dress with a sweetheart neckline and long sleeves- and heels… and my black push up bra. I rolled my eyes and stripped down to bare essentials minus my bra so I could put my push up bra on. I put the black dress over my head and tugging it down so it laid properly. I slipped the cute heels on and left the bathroom and nearly fell from tripping on the end of the dress but I caught myself. I went into Meg's room and they looked at me like and said nothing. 'Do I look bad? I nearly died so I hope I don't look bad.'

'Christ, Chris can you look bad in anything? I hate you.' Meg walked up to me and pulled the neckline down exposing more skin than I was used to. 'Doesn't she look good, Erik? I think I picked a good dress if I may say so myself.' She stepped back and crossed her arms.

'You also bought me heels. Thanks for not getting 5 inch heels though. That'd be sick and twisted… no pun intended.' I looked hopefully at Erik realizing I was wanting to hear him call me beautiful once more even if it was only because he was being put on the spot.

'You look magnificent. Meg did a really good job, you'll have no trouble turning heads in Canada.' I blushed and looked down at the floor while trying not to smile like an idiot.

'Thank you Erik.'

'Just telling the truth.' I looked up without bringing my head on and caught him smile briefly.

Meg clapped her hands together and smiled. 'Well I see my work here is done. Be free you two and don't ruin that dress before we get to Canada.'

'I won't.' I turned and left the room to change out of the dress. A couple minutes went by when I walked out out of the bathroom dress, bra (hidden in the dress) and shoes in hand and I went back to Meg's room to get Erik before Meg tells him anything that he really doesn't need to know. I walked into them sitting on the floor arguing over Hadley Frasier's Raoul and from my years of experience Meg was about to murder him.

'He's OK as Raoul.'

'Erik I don't know how you can say that! He's charming, can sing, has just enough arrogance that you can't hate him!'

'Meg I don't hate him I'm just saying I've seen better. And the guy liner? What the hell was with that?' _Oh god he insulted the guy liner. _

'Erik you are poking a sleeping tiger may I suggest we leave before she murders you because I don't think I can stop her.' Meg glared at me and I put my hands up in defense. He stood up and inched over to me. 'Alright Meg. Watch Hadley and calm down. I'll text you later.'

'Okay Chris. I'll see you later.' She stood up and went over to her laptop and plopped down on her bed. I let out a sigh as we went down the stairs.

'If I've learned one thing with Meg, don't question the guyliner.' We went into the kitchen and I gave Anne a hug. 'I'll see you on Christmas day.'

'I look forward to it. Don't forget to bring the Grinch though.'

'I might as well forget Meg.' She laughed and pulled Erik in for an unexpected hug.

'Mom you forgot Meg last year.' I laughed at the sight of a 42 5'4" year old woman choke hugging a 6 foot something 17 year old.

'I did not forget her! She wouldn't decide what to wear so I left her. I wanted caramel popcorn and she was standing in my way.' She let go of Erik. 'But anyway I'll bring the Grinch.'

I giggled as we went over to the enertance of the kitchen. 'Alright well I'll see you then.' I waved and waited for Erik to start walking. We got in the car and sat there for a moment before leaving.

'Meg and her mom are entertaining huh?'

'Meg's mom is like that older mom who's sweet and makes cookies but is a total badass at the same time isn't she?'

'Yeah pretty much.'

'That's cool. Meg and Hadley though, what's with that?'

I shrugged my shoulders. 'She thinks he's cute and is a good singer, which I'll agree with her on that. It's kinda like me with Ramin. He's hot, he can sing, he can act, he's a cool dude and he's like the worlds greatest dad which is fucking adorable to me. So I'll defend him till I die.'

'Girls are odd when it comes to that stuff huh.'

'Yeah I guess so. There's no girl who'd you defend till your dying breath?' I looked over at him and he smiled a little bit.

'Yeah there is actually.'

'Well see you can relate to it then.'

'Yeah I guess I can then.'

**Erik:**

I walked into my house after Christine and I said our goodbyes and walked into my kitchen to my dad. 'Dad I need to tell you something.'

He turned from the fridge and looked at me. 'What's that Erik?'

'I-I think I'm in love.' I felt a weight lift off my shoulders after admitting it.

'With who I may ask?' He slowly set the apple juice on the counter.

'Christine.' He sighed which worried me.

'Have you told her?'

'Yeah let's just ruin that friendship why don't we? She'd never like someone like me.'

'Erik I'd tell you everything a person would want to hear in a time like this but with you I know it'd fall on deaf ears so just listen to this, tell her. The risk is worth it, believe me. I won't tell anyone if you promise that in time you'll tell her. She deserves to know.'

The truth in his words unsettled me. 'You're right dad. I'll tell her soon.' I swallowed the lump in my throat and went upstairs into my room.

**Christine:**

After dropping Erik off at his house I went over to my brothers hoping him or Sammi would be home. I went up to their apartment and unlocked the door and called their names out. 'Sam, Norman? You guys home?'

'I'm in the kitchen!' I felt better knowing that Sammi was home instead of Norman. I went around the corner and smiled at Sammi who was eating goldfish and throwing one at Korben occasionally.

'Sammi can I talk to you?' I shifted uncomfortably on my feet.

'You're using my full name, this has to be serious. Let me make us some tea.' She poured the goldfish she was holding in her hand into a bowl and handed it to Korben before getting off the counter. She put the water onto boil, and pulled the mugs and tea bags out of the cabinet. 'Take a seat hun I'll be there in a minute okay?' She picked Korben up and disappeared into the kids room. I walked over to the couch, took my shoes off and pulled feet up underneath me. A minute later Sammi closed the door on the kids room without Korben and hurried over to the teapot that I just realized was whistling. She came out of the kitchen, mugs in hand and sat down in the seat across from me, and set the mugs down in front of us. 'Alright no distractions and we have tea. Spill.'

I sighed and took a sip of the soothing tea. 'I think I love Erik.'

'Oh…' She sat up and brought her feet under like me. 'Well when did this happen?'

I shook my head not sure how to answer her question. 'I-I don't know. Honestly I think I started feeling things for him the day we met. He'd touch my shoulder, our hands would accidentally touch pretty much wherever he'd touch me I'd be missing it the second he pulled awayt. And yesterday when he saw Jeremy kissing me and he ran off it broke my heart.'

'Aww hon you should go tell him!' I laughed and shook my head.

'Yeah let's just make it stupid awkward between the two of us and ruin what friendship we have because I accidentally fell in love with him.'

'Tell him or I'll tell him for you!'

I paled and looked at her wide eyed. 'No! Don't tell him Sammi! Please!'

She leaned forward and set her tea down. 'I'm kidding Christine. I'd never do that.' She wiggled her eyebrows and stood up. 'Okay promise me you'll never let your brother or your dad know that I gave this to you, and you have to swear to me you're at least 17 before you use it, and once you do be safe.' She disappeared into her room and came out with a bag, she handed it to me and smiled as she sat back down in her spot.

'Where's Hugh?' I opened the bag and pulled the pieces of fabric out and it took me a minute to register what it was before I turned pale and put them back into the bag. I stared at her wide eyed and she seemed to ignore it and shrug her shoulders nonchalantly.

'He's at my moms till Monday afternoon after school.'

'D-did you ever use this?'

'Oh god no that'd be gross! I'd never give you something like that if I had already used it.' I nodded not feeling as grossed out from receiving lingerie from my sister-n-law. 'So anyway, after I'm your maid of honor you're going to wear that on your wedding night for Erik. Got it? Go try it on so I know it fits you and looks good. I don't want you wearing it for him and you looking bad!'

I stood up and wondered why. 'But Sam this is important! Trying lingerie on isn't going to help!'

'Just try it on!' I sighed and went in their room. Once I had my clothes off I put the black leather/lace fake corset on and sat down to slip the thigh high sheer panty hose up into it's proper position along with the black lace thong. I put the garter sting things in place and went back out to the living room. Her mouth dropped and I suddenly felt very self conscious.

'I look stupid.'

'You're HOT! I'm glad I never wore that because you can rock it!'

'Sam I am nearly naked in front of you when I should be talking about how I love him, but he doesn't have any feelings for me.'

'Okay well sit down and tell me how you _know _he doesn't have any feelings for you.' Being too lazy to go change I sat back down on the couch and covered myself with a blanket.

'Well firsts, look at me!-'

'Yeah look at you! You're freaking adorable, and slap some leather and lace on and you're hot!'

'Second, I'm not interesting, and third, he deserves better than me.'

'Ugh!' She rolled her eyes and let her head fall back onto the couch. 'Christine, you are one of the funniest people I know, and say he deserves better than you one more time and I'm making you a blue lesbian fairy!'

My head shot up and I smiled. 'Let's do it.'

'Do what?'

'Dye my hair blue! I've been thinking about doing blue since I did your hair, I'm going to Canada to see freaking Les Miserables with him and Meg, and I'm tired of blonde hair. Even better! Let's do a blue ombre from like blue to black! Ooo I'm excited! Do you know someone who could help? I can cut my own hair but I'm not pushing it with color.'

'Yeah, my friend Ella is pretty good. She's 18 so so she's near your age. She came in a couple months ago for a quote from the Big Lebowski and we bonded over that.'

'Sounds good. Can you call her and see when she can come over here? I'll have to run to a beauty supply store and get some permanent blue and black before we do it.'

'How do you even shop at that place when you don't have a degree in beauty or whatever it's called?'

'I'm acquainted with a girl who works there who I did her hair once. I give her cash and a list of whatever I need and she gets it for me.'

'Very nice. I'll call her up right now.' She stood up and went over to the bar, grabbed her phone and sat back down on the couch while waiting for her to pick up. 'Hey Ella it me! Yeah my sister-n-law here is wanted to do a blue ombre look in her hair, do you think you could do that? She has the supplies.' She nodded a few times. 'Yeah that sounds good! Thanks bye.' She hung the phone up and set it down on the coffee table. 'So how does tomorrow work? It's only 2 do you think you could get the color by tomorrow? She said she can be here by 3.'

'Uh lemme check with her really quick.' I got my phone from my purse and dialed my connection. 'Hey yeah can you get me some hair dye today?'

'_Yeah I'm at break right now.' _

'Well I'm doing an ombre from blue to black so I need light, medium, dark, then black so how can you get everything I need for less than 50 bucks?'

'_It'll be cheaper to just get one blue and use developer to tone it down to the color you want, but yeah. Permanent, demi, semi or one wash?'_

Yeah you're right it would be cheaper to get lighter blue by adding developer instead, and permanent.'

'_Alright I'll have everything you need in like 20 minutes. I have 10 minutes left on my break.'_

'Mkay thanks Jane.'

'_No prob. Bye.'_

'Bye.' I hung the phone up and put it back in my purse. 'I'll head over there in a little bit to get everything.'

'Ah this is going to look so cute!'

I smirked. 'Yeah.' An idea came into my head so I stood and went to the kitchen and I grabbed all my cutting supplies. I went into the bathroom and Sammi was soon standing behind me looking at me like I was crazy- well I could see it since I was cutting my hair 98% nude. I pulled my hair back leaving my bangs out. I combed them forward and cut them similar to Sammi's except I didn't have the pixie cut and they were going to be blue soon. I had straightened my hair that day so I took advantage of it by giving myself a quick haircut. Sammi insisted on getting my hair cover thing for me so I didn't ruin the lingerie. I thinned my hair a significant amount so it was no longer fluffy, I took 3 inches off so it only went 4 inches below my shoulders and textured it. I definitely gave myself that haircut you see a lot on girls in K-Pop bands.

'So why did you just give yourself a completely different haircut randomly?'

'Oh well the answer to that is that since I'm getting a new hair color I'm giving myself a new look too.' I played with my now eyebrow length bangs and modern chic haircut loving the feel of it.

'Well I like it. Now go change so you can get the hair color and go home!' I left the bathroom and went into their room to change. I rid myself of the skimpy fabric and put my clothes back on. I stuffed the lingerie into my purse and went over to give Sammi a hug, for what I don't know, she really didn't do anything helpful besides tell me what I should do.

'I'll see you tomorrow Sam.'

'See you tomorrow hun.' She followed me to the door and closed it behind me. I wrapped my jacket tighter around my body and made my way to the car.


	7. Secrets

**Authors note: *wrings my fingers together and resists the urge to delete this chapter because I don't know if I took the pace of this story too quickly or if things in this chapter moved too quickly and incoherently* Okay I'm really nervous about this chapter like I love it but I hope it's not too… idk for you guys.**

**-Sassy**

**The Next Day, Christine:**

I walked up to Erik's house, my hair supplies in my hand and knocked on the door. 'Sorry I spent al- Oh hey Christine, new hair?'

I ran my hand through my hair still enjoying it. 'Uh yeah. Wanna come over to Norman's for a couple hours? I'm dying my hair.' I lifted the bag up to show him while smiling.

He looked at me for a moment before grabbing his coat from the newly hung coat hanger next to his door and put it on. He closed the door and walked with me to the car. 'So what color?'

'That's a surprise.' We got into the car and put our seatbelts on before pulling onto the road.

'You should tell me.' He went to grab the bag but I got it before him and I put it on the left side of my seat.

'Nice try bucko.'

'So what made you want to cut your hair? I think it's cool but when we went to Norman's and you did Sammi's hair you said you were happy with your haircut.'

I shrugged my shoulders at his valid point. 'I dunno. I've had the same haircut for like a year and a half so I got bored I guess.'

'Well that's a good reason.'

'The best.' I giggled then turned the radio on hoping there was something to listen to that wasn't crap. 'You can pick what we listen to.'

'Oh thank you. Should I feel honored?'

'Very.' I glanced over at him as he brought his hand up to the radio to scan the stations. He settled on one that had a Korn song playing and I looked over at him surprised at his selection. 'Korn?'

'Yeah do you not like them?'

'No I like them. I mean I have to, they were the first band I showed real interest since they were/is Norman's favorite band.'

'That's cool. I think the first band I ever showed interest in was Green Day.'

'Really? What about your first movie. Mine's embarrassing so you go first.'

'I don't know about the first movie, but my favorite movie as a kid was The Mummy with Brendan Fraser.'

I chuckled not expecting that at all. 'Really? Wow I haven't watched that movie in forever. The mom was hot though.'

'Yeah she was pretty cute. So what was your favorite movie as a kid?'

'Anything with singing honestly. Disney, musicals like I've pretty much loved the stage since I was a kid. Although I _loved _the 1925 Phantom for a while just because the masks were funny. Like his eyes were always wide because they were fake or something, like I don't know but they were funny.'

'I've never seen the 1925 version. Is it good?'

'Yeah it's pretty good. I watch it now and then, and now that I'm older I really like the sets because it's like a video from the past which is really cool to me.'

'I would have never thought of it that way. That's really cool actually.'

'Been making things cool since 1997.'

'Most definitely.' I fought back a smile at the sound of his laughter that I caused.

A few minutes passed before we got to their apartment and into a parking spot. I got out of the car, grabbed the bag of hair dye and closed the door. 'Ready to find out the color I'm doing?'

'The anticipation is building over here.'

'Well I'm glad because you have to wait until it's on my head, unless the dye isn't the color of the color but it most likely is.'

He lowered his voice. 'What color will Christine color her hair? Stay tuned through the commercial break to find out.' I laughed as I unlocked the door and walked in waited for Erik to come in before closing it and relocking it.

'Sammi we're here.'

'Hello early people!' She came out of their room and hugged me then Erik.

'Yeah sorry about that, I'm just really excited.'

'Well that works out well because Ella came by early to uh… do stuff that isn't legal. Like downloading free music.'

'Is what that smell is?'

'Yeah sorry I didn't know you'd be early.' She bit her lower lip.

'It's fine I don't know why you think it offends me or something.'

'Well this is a very deep conversation about "downloading free music" you don't have to speak in code I know what it smells like. I'm a teenager.'

'Oh well yeah… let's get started then. Ella they're here!' A red haired bustier girl came out of Norman and Sammi's room coughing. She waved at me then smiled at Erik which he gladly returned. _Excuse me guy I love stop being nice to her._ She let out a smoke cloud then spoke. 'Hey Christine, I'm Ella.' She held her hand out for me to shake which I did. 'And this is?' She scanned him over as if seeing if he was worth her time.

'Erik.' He held his hand out for her to take but she instead hugged him and lingered a couple seconds after he let go. He looked tense like when I first hugged him and he wasn't expecting it. He cleared his throat and shifted on his feet.

'Well I guess I'm gonna have to break that shell of yours aren't I?' She poked his nose then turned and looked at me. _Are you fucking kidding me? _'So you have the colors you're doing right?'

'Yeah they're right here.' I glared over at Sammi who was staring at Ella. She looked at me helplessly and shrugged her shoulders. I handed her the bag and she pulled out the dye to look at it.

'Alright this should be easy. Have you bleached your hair and if not do you have any?' She set the boxes of dye and bottle of developer on the table.

'Yeah I'll grab it.' I went into the kitchen and grabbed the box of bleach from under the counter along with the brush and dye bowl. I stood up and pulled my pants up before setting them down next to the hair dye. 'So here's everything.' She didn't stop looking at Erik which made me really annoyed. She came here to do my hair not flirt with the guy I love. 'Ella?...' Nothing. 'Ella I have the bleach.' I lightly tapped her shoulder. She turned and nodded her head.

'Alright well I'll get everything ready and then we'll start doing your hair.' I nodded and closed my eyes fighting back the tears that were threatening to show. I sat down on a chair at the table next to the bar and took a deep breath. _He isn't mine so what does it matter if another girl looks at him? _I opened my eyes once I knew the tears were gone and smiled when Sammi hugged me around my neck.

She whispered in my ear, 'I'm sorry I'll try to drop hints for her to lay off without Erik knowing you have feelings for him, okay?'

'Thanks Sam but it doesn't matter because of that thing I told you about not being interested.' She sighed and stood up straight.

'So Erik do you have a girlfriend?' I groaned distastefully. _Can she be anymore obvious?!_

'Uh no..?' I looked at him sympathetically.

'Are you gay?'

'Nope on that too.' _Well at least now any wondering I had is gone completely now._ He sat down next to me. I sighed and started picking at my fingers until Ella came around the corner to the table.

'Okay pull your chair out into the light so I can see.' I got up and dragged my chair over to the living room where she had moved to and sat back down on my chair. She pretty much ignored me while she put the bleach on by talking to Erik, and after 10 minutes of her talking to him he was pretty much enjoying it instead of being nervous. I sat there, silently picking at a stray thread on the edge of the hair cape while Erik and Ella socialized and Sammi played on her phone. _I would have invited Meg if I knew this would happen. She would have told Ella to piss off even when I said no and I would have had someone to talk to. _I felt the tears coming back so I started thinking about puppies and other cute things. Speaking of cute things my phone started playing Meg's ringtone and I couldn't get up.

'Erik can you hand me my ph-' I saw the leather when he opened my purse catching the drift of what I meant and realized I forgot to take the lingerie out of my purse last night. 'Wait no Erik nevermind just hand me my purse please.' It was too late. He pulled the scraps of fabric out of my purse and looked at it wide eyed and Ella didn't help it either.

'Ooo who's the lucky fella?' She kept fucking slapping her lips together chewing her gum and I was about to super glue her mouth closed.

'I uh Sammi why did you put that in my purse?' I tried to think of anything to get them to not think it was mine.

'I didn't put that in there.' She laughed at looked up from her phone. 'Technically I put it in a bag and gave it to you, you were the one who put it in your purse.'

'Why would I even need that? I don't have a boyfriend!' I was getting a little desperate.

'Yeah but you like someone.' She winked at me and put her attention back in her phone.

I was near tears until Erik tossed the skimpy outfit over at Sammi. 'Funny prank Sammi but she's mortified and it's time to give it up.'

I closed my eyes and let out a shaky breath completely forgetting about Meg calling. 'You're right Erik. I'm sorry Chris I should know when to stop. However you really did leave your hoodie and sweatpants here from when you did my hair earlier this month.'

'Oh yeah… I was wondering where that went.' Still completely mortified that everyone saw that and was pretty sure Erik and Ella still thought it was mine I stayed quiet for the rest of the day besides when someone asked me a direct yes or no question, and some nods here and there. Plus by the end of it Erik was full on flirting with her crushing my heart. I was in the bathroom straightening my hair when Erik walked in but I paid no attention to him since he couldn't do the same to me.

'Hey.' The corner of his mouth twitched into a smile but only for a split second.

'What cha need?' I tried not to sound pissed but I don't know if I was doing a good job or not.

'I'm gonna go to dinner with Ella so I have a ride home.' My nodded my head like a moron which made me burn my thumb and jump in pain.

'Ow!' He went to my side and tried to take my hand but I yanked it away from him. 'I'm fine just go and have some fun dude. You're leaving tomorrow and you won't be able to see her till the 23rd when you get back.' I felt myself tearing up so I looked down at the sink and started running my thumb under cold water.

'Yeah right… I'll see you when I get back then.'

'Yep have a good break.' I took in a sharp breath trying to keep my voice steady as we walked out of the bathroom. I waited until I heard the front door close and the voices stop before I turned the faucet off and let myself cry freely. I pulled myself together and walked out of the bathroom and grabbed my purse from the table.

'Where are you going Chris?'

'I don't know. Not home though. Thanks for having me over today I'll see you soon.' I left her apartment and rushed down the stairs making sure not to fall on my way down and jogged over to my car. I got in and turned the car on and immediately started laughing at the song on my radio. 'What am I in a fucking cheesy romance movie or some shit like that now?' I back out of the space and sped out of the parking lot while for some reason listening to Blurry by Puddle of Mudd (Not a bad song but really?) I rolled my windows down needing to breath and stopped at the red light right after turning out of the parking lot. I tried not to cry but it didn't work out well. I started hearing someone call my name and was _really _confused until I looked at the car to the left of me and saw Erik with the window down looking at me concerned, or at least I was hoping he was. Mortified I rolled the window up and looked forward ignoring any movements I saw out of the corner of my eye. I let out a breath I was unaware I was holding when I got a green arrow. I pressed down on the gas pedal a little more urgently than usual and stopped when a giant line of cars started turning right and straight on coming traffic wasn't letting up. I started screaming a high amount of profanities that even a sailor would be offended. Once Erik was no longer next to me in the skanks car I rolled my windows back down. I breathed in the winter air and smiled when I smelled burning wood. Pulling out into the intersection a little further and finally got my chance to go, I said, 'Thank you! Fucking hell I hate that light.'

**5 Hours Later**

I didn't lie when I said I wasn't going home, Meg, Sammi, Norman and dad had all called me assuming to see where I was. I couldn't really answer that question when I was just driving around, I had stopped at Chipotle for some dinner at like 8 PM and that was two hours ago. I probably should have gone home but I really didn't want to, which made no sense because I loved home now that my dad was trying to be a better dad and Erik wasn't there so I don't know why I didn't just go home and lock myself in my room. I was currently making my way to my favorite park- well more like grass field in the area I lived with some monkey bars. I had mindlessly been listening to Fall Out Boy for the past four hours and honestly I probably only really heard one song. I pulled up to the deserted park and pulled my old (It wasn't really old, it was released in 2009 but it seemed like a long time ago.) OneRepublic CD since I was feeling nostalgic for simpler times and turned it up a little louder so I could hear it from the monkey bars. I went over to the metal bars and I climbed up the ladder then grabbed hold of the first bar and took my feet off the ladder leaving it to my weak upper body strength to hold myself up. I moved my hands to the third bar paying no attention to the second and so on until I reached the other side. I got up to the very top bar on the ladder and jumped onto the top of the monkey bars. I latched my legs onto the bars as I fell backwards letting myself hang upside down. I closed my eyes taking in the smell of the wet freshly cut grass, and burning wood which you could smell pretty much any time any place in Phoenix during the winter. I peeked to make sure I was alone before starting to sing, silly I know since I wanted to become a performer, but until then I'm checking to make sure I'm alone.

'I need another story

Something to get off my chest

My life gets kinda boring

Need something that I can confess

'Til all my sleeves are stained red

From all the truth that I've said

Come by it honestly I swear

Thought you saw me wink, no

I've been on the brink, so

Tell me what you want to hear

Something that were like those years

I'm sick of all the insincere

So I'm gonna give all my secre-'

'Hey.' I opened my eyes to Erik's voice and saw him and Ella standing there looking at me. I ignored him and made my way safely to the ground. I walked three feet away from them, around them and stopped when his hand touched my shoulder. 'Why are you ignoring me Chris? Is there something I did wrong?'

I shook my head and turned around yet not able to look him in the eyes. 'You didn't do anything wrong Erik it's just stuff I'm working out on my own.' I looked over at Ella's mouth which was still unattractively slapping together, and clenched my jaw in attempt not to punch her. 'So how'd your date go?' I really didn't care I was just wanting Ella to give me a reason to punch her, and alas she didn't fail me.

'It was sooo amazing. Like did you know he was that smart?' She put her hand around his waist and he looked maddeningly uncomfortable but she didn't seem to notice.

'Well you know what they say, opposites attract.' I hoped she'd get it, and I saw Erik start to smile then he frowned. She looked at me for a minute while either glaring at me, or was in deep thought either were an option. What she'd do next obviously meant she figured it out. She jumped at me and made me fall back onto the ground and I hit my head. As she started to and punch my chest/boobs, II fought through the haziness and grabbed her fist before she could really inflict any pain on me and somehow found the strength to flip her onto the ground and get above her as a wave of nausea hit me. 'Are you fucking insane Ella!?' I tried grabbing her hands that were now trying to yank my hair out, which was the final no violence straw for me. Ignoring her poor attempts to pull my hair out I threw my fist right at her mouth and boy that felt good. She grabbed her jaw in pain while I shook my hand having never punched someone before, damn that shit hurt. I lifted my fist into the air preparing for the pain it was going to bring us both but I was lifted up off of her and I started kicked to get loose. 'What are you the fucking Hulk? Let me go! She started it she deserves what she was about to get! It'll save her the life of porn to get the money for her nose job daddy would never give her anyway!' I pried at Erik's arms but he wouldn't loosen his grip until Ella was up and standing behind him. I let out a frustrated huff when Erik wouldn't let me around him to hit her.

'She's fucking crazy Erik! Let's go back to my place where you can look at my jaw okay?'

I coughed, 'Slut.' under my breath hoping to tick her off again, but instead Erik glared at me. 'Oh god you're kidding, right Erik? You- wow and I thought I was shallow for dating Raoul for the reason I did.' I turned on my heel not wanting to be near either of them and went over to my car. I was opening the door when Erik walked up to me. 'Go back to your one night stand Erik I'm done.'

'Will I see you when I get back?'

Baffled by his question I chose the best route to go for answering his question. 'Yo hold up Christine after I fuck this retarded slut who just tried to beat you up and is flaunting me in front of you wanna hang when I get back? And if you didn't understand the answer, no. I can't be friends with you after tonight Erik, especially when you're still going through with it after she tried to beat up.' I itched my nose and saw there was blood on my finger. 'Wait sorry correction- beat me up.'

'She's not flaunting me, I'm not flaunting material.'

'Ugh don't turn this into a pity party I forgot my hat and streamers at home. You need to realize that all the flaws you let hold yourself back, most of us either don't see them or don't fucking care that they're there.' _Here goes nothing. _'You also need to realize that there are people who love you and that they're hurt that you ignored them all day today to talk to Ella when all she wanted to do was hang out with you before you left.' I sighed and looked at the ground in defeat. 'But you're not going to so I hope you have a fun night, a fun trip and whatever else that's supposed to be fun.' I got in my car ignoring the blank look on his face and drove away towards my house which wasn't that far away. When I pulled up to the house I saw a police car parked and I started to panic. I got out of my car, ran into my house and into the living room to see everyone sitting there talking to Jake, a police officer who lived across the street from us. I realized they were talking to him about me until they all stood. 'What's going on guys?'

'Where the hell have you been Christine! Being out all day is one thing but the least you could do is pick up your phone!' I flinched at my dad's anger but I understood why he'd be mad. His face softened, 'What happened to you? Did someone hurt you?'

I wiped the rest of the blood from my nose and nodded. 'Yeah I got in a fight will this girl, Ella. She tackled me and proceeded to punch me until I got her under me that's when she started trying to rip my hair out.'

'Did you hit her? Please tell me you hit her.' I looked over at Sammi confused.

'Why would you want me to hit your friend, and yes I did. In her jaw.' She clapped excitingly as she walked over to give me a hug.

'Because any girl that hits on the guy my sister likes deserves to be punched and isn't a friend in my book, Big Lebowski tattoo or not.'

'Wait who do you like Christine?' My dad looked up at me.

'No one anymore.' I knew I was lying to myself but Erik and I weren't friends anymore so there was no future there. 'Hey Sammi wanna go to Toronto with Meg and I?' I itched the back of my arm.

'Oh hun I'd love to, but I don't know if I can leave Norman with the kids for that long.' She looked at me sympathetically.

'Oh alright.' I sighed and sat down next to Meg on the loveseat.

'Wait wasn't Erik going with you and I?' I gave her the _I'll tell you later _look and she nodded in understanding. 'Well since I'm here can I stay the night so I don't have to have my mom come and pick me up Gustave? It's 11 so she might be asleep.'

'Christine can take you home, no?'

'I don't think I should be driving. My head hit the ground pretty hard and I'm still nauseous and I have a headache.' I pressed lightly on the back of my head when it occurred to me that I could be bleeding and let a breath out when I didn't see any blood.

'Christine, do you want to press charges on her? Unless you threw the first punch anyway.' I looked up at Jake and considered it.

'What would happen to her?' I started picking at my nails.

'Well she'd be arrested, photo's taken, fingerprints personal items, ect. Then she'll be held until she's put before a judge and read off her charges and her bail will be posted, if no one pays off her bail she'll just kinda sit there.'

'I am 99% tempted to do that, but I wouldn't take her away from the guy she likes.'

'So what happened anyway? I wanna know if you kicked ass or not.' Meg sat up and smiled excitedly.

'Well I didn't really kickass. She was just flaunting the guy I _liked _in front of me and she was like he's like so smart did you know that? And I was like, well you know the saying, opposites attract-' Sammi let out a giggle. 'She took a minute to get it but once she did, she tackled me to the ground and started punching me. I somehow managed to get her off of me and under me instead and then when she started pulling on my hair I punched her in the jaw to get her to stop. It hurt like a bitch especially when I've never punched someone before. Anyway when I was going to punch her again he pulled _me _off of _her_ not the other way around. He let her punch me like 5 times but when I punch her _once _he feels the need to pull someone away. Anyway I said something about how I was going to save her from a life of porn so she doesn't have to earn the money to get the nose job her daddy wouldn't give her.'

'Ooo remind me not to fuck with you!' Sammi did the sassy Z snap and laughed. 'Well I guess we should get going. My mom probably want's the kids out of her hair.' Norman and Sammi stood and came over to me to give me a hug. 'Bye Chris we'll see you soon.' She straightened herself up and moved out of the way so Norman could give me a hug.

He whispered, 'Good fighting kiddo.' into my ear and I smiled while patting his back.

'Thanks Norman.' He stood up and went over to Sammi, they waved one last time before walking out of sight. 'Well Meg and I are going to go up to my room. I'll see you tomorrow dad, and it was nice to see you Jake.' I stood up and went over to my dad and gave him a hug.

'Goodnight Christine, I'm glad you're alright.'

'Yep.' I smiled and went over to the stairs where Meg was waiting for me. We hurried up the stairs and I opened the door and yelped when I found Erik standing by my window. I angrily closed the door so my dad wouldn't hear me. 'Do you not have a sense of privacy? Or personal space? I told you I was done Erik. _Leave me alone.' _I pointed at the window and crossed my arms.

'I came here to apologize.' He leaned against the wall and copied my position.

'Erik is the guy you like? Ha! I knew it!' She narrowed her eyes and looked over at him. 'And you were the guy who let the slut go ape shit on Christine because you wanted to get lucky!? Uhuh no leave now before I kick your ass.' I smiled knowing Meg would keep her word if he didn't.

'I just want to apologize Meg. I'll leave as soon as I've done so.' He sighed and shifted his feet.

'Fine. I'll give you _five minutes_.' She held her hand out and pointed at her five fingers to emphasize her point.

'Does it matter what I want anymore? If she won't kick your ass I'll sure as hell punch you.' I tried to push my conflicting feelings aside and focus on the anger.

He smiled smugly. 'No you won't.'

'Ooo shit I'm gonna go incase I have to pass a lie detector.' I looked out of the corner of my eye at Meg who backed out of the room and closed the door. I stepped forward several steps and let out a low growl.

'I can growl and scowl too ya know.'

'Will you just go Erik? There's no use in apologizing because I don't want to hear it.'

'Why not?' He got off the wall and took a step towards me.

'Because if you were trying to get over a person would it be easier to do if the last conversation you had with them was an argument or an apology?'

'You make it sound like you're going to be the only one who's going to be having to get over someone once I leave.'

'Because I was the one who let my date tackle you and begin to pummel you but the minute you dared to lay a finger on his precious face I was pulling you away. You know what fuck you Erik. I have the shittiest headache, I'm trying not to puke and my nose hurts because of the bitch. When she tackled me to the ground did it occur to you that when my head hit the ground I might have been oh I dunno, INJURED?! But no you wouldn't dare pull her away because she was going to have sex with you. God will you just leave me alone? If I wanted to talk to you I wouldn't have left the park.'

'Christine, I'm sorry. I really am! I was going to pull her off of you but by the time I registered that you two were fighting you had her under you and I figured it was only fair to let you hit her once!'

'One fucking punch? Really? She hit me five times! I had the right to three punches!' I put my hands on my hips and tapped my foot impatiently.

'Well pardon me for breaking up the fight! Won't do it again, why are you acting like this?!' He ran his hand over his hair frustratingly.

'Because I love you and seeing you with Ella, and you backing her up so you could get lucky and you ignoring me all day for her really fucking hurt! Why are you even here because I don't feel like you're here to apologize!' I wasn't sure why I was yelling but it felt nice to do so, so I continued.

He sighed and tousled his hair frustrated. 'I'm here because like I said, you're not going to be the only one getting over someone after tonight… I love you Christine and ton- today I made the biggest mistake of my life so far and probably will remain in the top 3 of stupid decisions for the rest of my life.' I blinked several times taking in what he said then practically ran the five steps that separated us and he took no time to close the gap between our lips, the kiss was angry and bitter sweet. I put my arms around his neck and combed my fingers through the hair at the nape of his neck as his hands ventured down to my hips leaving a trail of goosebumps behind them. I bit his lower lip lightly which made him start moving his hands down and they ended up in my back pockets of my jeans.

We broke apart for air for a split second but were immediately kissing again and I let a small moan slip, and I felt him smile against my mouth. Someone knocked on the door so we pulled apart and I went over to where I was originally standing to catch my breath. I put my hand over my chest and took in a deep breath. 'Come in.' My voice weaved out as I worked through the high I was feeling. My door opened and my dad walked in.

'Are you alright? I heard yelling.' He looked around the room then looked at me.

'Yeah I'm fine I was just practicing my….guy voice..?' I raised my eyebrow at my excuse hoping my dad would buy it.

'Well Meg is downstairs making hot chocolate angrily so I don't think you were practicing your guy voice. Who's in here?' My dad crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes at me.

'No one is in here…. I mean look around and you won't find anyone.' I nervously looked around the room not quite sure how true of a statement it was because I had no idea where he had hid. I licked my lips trying to diminish the tingling sensation on my lips that didn't want to go away. Thankful that my breathing was beginning to even out I sighed when my dad started looking around the room. He began to kneel down to check under the bed and I was pretty sure that's where Erik was hiding. 'Dad no one is under my bed.' As he bent over Erik rolled out and got on top of the bed as he lifted the bed skirt up. I bit back a laugh when my dad stood up and Erik went back under the bed without missing a beat.

'Right well stop practicing your guy voice and go to bed once you two finish your hot chocolate.' He looked around the room as he went over to the door.

'Alright we will.' I cleared my throat once he closed the door and I heard him going down the stairs. Erik popped up from the floor and dusted his shirt off.

'You need to clean under there I think I saw something move.' I smirked while walking over to him, I raised my hand as if I was going to touch his cheek, and smacked him. I stepped back a couple steps as he rubbed his cheek. 'What the hell was that for?'

'Do you really think you can come in here after you planned on having sex with my assaulter, apologize, say you love me and get off the hook?'

'Well yes I did actually.' He itched his cheek.

'And how do I know that you're not here to see if I'll have sex with you so you get everything you wanted? You fix our friendship and you get laid.' I flexed my right hand to get rid of the sting.

'Because I'm not that big of an asshole and I respect you too much to do that.' He took a step towards me. _Where the fuck is Meg? She said five minutes! _

'And how do I know what you're saying is true?' I crossed my arms over my chest.

'I don't know. How do you know my real name is Erik? I could be Frank for all you know.'

'Because you don't look like a Frank and I… trust you...' I looked down at the floor and looked at the blood stain from when I got my first period. I smiled to myself at the memory of how freaked out I was thinking I got stabbed or something like that, then the awkward talk with my dad because Anne couldn't come over to talk to me about it.

'Well then you're just going to have to apply that trust here then. I'm not going to make an excuse up for what I did or what I was planning to do because it would be useless and a lie. What I did was fucked up on all levels and you shouldn't forgive me, but I'm asking you to anyway because if I knew what I know now I wouldn't have even spared her a second glance at Norman and Sammi's today. You have to understand that I haven't had many girls lining up to be with me, so when Ella openly expressed whatever she was feeling I thought there was no way in hell you also felt something for me as well.'

Somewhat touched by his apology I felt my wall slowly being dismantled. 'Why didn't you just ask me out?'

He scratched the back of his neck and shook his head. 'I didn't want to ruin our friendship when it seemed like there was a high possibility that you didn't feel anything like that towards me.' He scoffed and rolled his eyes. 'Look at where that got me.'

'Where'd it get you exactly?' I crossed my arms and tried to look angry.

'I hurt you which was one of the things I was trying to avoid.' He looked up at me and smiled sadly.

'Well you would have avoided it if you had just asked me out.' I was working at mach speed in my brain to rebuild the wall, but the look on his face was making it crumble even more.

'Well why didn't you ask me out? Why did I have to do it?' _Damn his good points. _

'Alright so we both didn't help the situation out I'll admit that.' I sighed and fell down on the floor to lazy to carefully sit down. I brought my knees up to my chin and pulled my bangs out of my face. 'What now?' My voice was a hoarse whisper, I felt myself starting to cry for some reason so I put my eyes against my knees hoping the urge would pass.

'I don't know. It's up to you honestly.' Last time I looked up he was at my window so when he touched my shoulder I jumped not expecting it.

'What are my options?' I took a deep breath when he wiped under my eye with his thumb.

'Well there's option one which is letting me take you out for dinner the day I get back, option two where you tell me to fuck off and I leave you alone forever, then option three where we forgot this entire day ever happened and go back to being friends… where the hell is Meg? I was expecting to have to jump out the window two minutes ago.'

I laughed while wiping my face dry. 'I don't know. She was making hot chocolate so she's probably sitting outside the door listening to our conversation.'

'Yeah that sounds like her. So anyway you don't have to answer tonight, but either way would you like to go for a walk with me? I'd invite Meg but she's no where to be seen.' He smiled at me and stood up, holding his hand out for me to take. I looked at it for a minute considering his invite and finally took it standing up with his help.

'I'll meet you outside and I'll see if Meg wants to come.' He nodded and was out the window before I could say chocolate. I stripped myself of my dirt stained clothes and grabbed a overly large sweater jacket, a clean dress to wear and some black tights. I sat down and put the tights over my feet and stood bringing them up to right above my knees. I grabbed the grey long sleeve knit dress and pulled it over my head and down so it was laying about 4 inches above the edge of my tights then pulled the jacket on. I grabbed some grey converse from the bottom of my closet along with my trusty grey beanie and opened my door surprised not to find Meg sitting listening in. I went over to my bathroom and put some of my Bath and Body works Midnight Pomegranate perfume on then refreshed my deodorant. I turned the bathroom light off and went down the stairs not seeing my dad in the living room or kitchen, or Meg for that matter. Confused I peeked out the sliding glass door to the backyard and saw my dad and Meg drinking hot chocolate and talking about something. _That was my hot chocolate…_ Knowing my dad wouldn't let us leave if I went out there to invite her I quietly closed the slider, grabbed my purse off the kitchen counter and went over to the front door. I double checked that I had my house keys and cell phone before opening the door and closing it behind me. I found Erik standing across the street and so I jogged over to him and he smiled at me.

'You changed.'

'Yeah I wanted to get out of those clothes, they were dirty and I felt like I had ants crawling over me so I changed hoping it'd help.' I put my purse over my shoulder and grabbed my left elbow with my right hand. 'So why did you want to go for a walk?' I looked up at him.

'Because it's beautiful outside, Meg didn't want to come?' His hand brushed my left hand and he curled his middle finger bringing my hand into his. I looked down at our hands and blushed before looking back up at him and smiling.

'She was out talking to my dad and I knew we wouldn't be able to go if he knew about it so I just left. Plus she gave him my hot chocolate which is unbelievably rude like who does that? Anyway I think at one point she was listening to our conversation.'

'If it makes you feel better I'll buy you a hot chocolate when I get back.' He looked down and me and smiled.

'Will pumpkin spice creamer be involved?' I felt my stomach flutter when he started rubbing my knuckles with his thumb.

'Of course, what's hot chocolate without pumpkin spice creamer?' We turned down the path that goes to the park the four of us went to the first night we hung out together.

'Warm chocolate milk that's what.' He laughed and I felt the awkward mood lifting which made me happy to know we might just be able to work through this. We came up to the play area and I let go of his hand and ran over to it giggling like a five year old. I climbed up the swirly slide and pulled my dress down when I crawled through the opening and stood up. Erik ran towards me and I squealed running on the left side of the circle platform and over the bridge onto the opposite side of the play gym. I blinked and Erik disappeared, I raised my eyebrows and scanned the surrounding area's not seeing him. I got down from the jungle gym and went over to a tree that was big enough for him to hide behind in the grass in the off chance that he somehow managed to get over here in 6 seconds. I stopped on the front side of the tree and quietly creeped up and around it then frowned when he wasn't there. I sighed and started walking back to the playground when a couple feet away from the tree he ran up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist. I let out a surprised yelp but ended up laughing with him. I turned around in his grip and continued laughing along with him, once I made eye contact with him my laughter died down and I attempted to moisten my dry throat and push through the nervousness about what I was about to initiate as his laughter faded. It was nothing but a distant echo in our ears. He pushed a phantom hair out of my eye and brought his hand to the back of my neck and I found myself leaning my head up without a second thought. My vision blurred as he leaned down and brushed his lips against mine, the sweet and gentle kiss only lasted several seconds thanks to my advances. I wrapped my arms around his neck as his free hand went down to the small of my back. I leaned further into him and felt my nerves growing. I broke the kiss off and ran my hand down from his neck to his chest in front of my face. 'I've made my decision.' My breathing was labored.

'And what's that?' His voice was a deep whisper as his hands trailed up and down my spine making it hard to focus let alone talk.

'What do you think?' I got up on my tip toes in order to reach his mouth with mine. I slipped my free hand up and under the waist of his jeans and he grabbed my wrist as he broke the kiss off.

'No I can't do that...' He shook his head and looked at me.

'Why not?' I looked at the ground then up at him with pleading eyes.

'Because I can't take that away from you knowing you'll probably look back in 5 years and regret it.' He let go of my wrist and took my hand in his.

'If I'm going to regret it either way wouldn't you rather it be with you who I actually have feelings for instead of some asshole?'

'Why not wait until you find the guy you're going to marry?' I heard the plea in his voice.

'What if I'm looking at him? We don't know where we're going to be in 10 years. _No one_ knows so we might as well just go with the moment before it runs away.'

He sighed and put his hands back on my hips. 'You're set on this aren't you?'

'Yes.' I felt breathless.

'And you're sure?' He started rubbing my hip bones with his thumbs.

'No I'm not sure, but I don't know if I'll ever be sure.' He dropped his hand down to my leg and lightly trailed his finger up my thigh then stopped right at end of my dress. I almost wanted to whimper at how just that simple touch left me burning.

***Nooghty scene so skip if you don't want to read it and excuse my use of "clit" I've come to think "nub" just not bleh it's not hot at all. I don't think a 16 year old girl is going to be thinking that word either like it's just not her character so yeah I'm sorry.***

'I don't have a-'

Knowing where he was going I said, 'I have one in my purse.'

He looked at me somewhat confused. 'Why do you have a condom in your purse?'

'Sammi makes me keep it in my purse just in case. I guess she wasn't looking that far into the future when she said I need it sooner or later.' I opened the size zipper pocket of my purse and pulled out the package and held it up trying not to let my hand shake to show how scared I was becoming.

He took the condom from me and said, 'I guess this is as good as time as ever to make sure your answer is dinner when I get back then.'

I let a laugh escape and nodded. 'Yeah dinner when you get back.'

'Well then-' he ran his hand over his mouth then looked back down at me. 'Are you _sure_ I mean if you just even want to wait a week we can do it not in a park and not on the night you thought I was trying to get lucky.'

'With how unsure you are I don't think you're trying to get lucky anymore, and the park is a nice setting I won't complain... I guess I am being kinda selfish. Are you comfortable doing this? I don't want to pressure you.'

He shook his head. 'No you're not pressuring me but I think I'd be a lot more comfortable if it weren't your first time.'

'Well don't worry about it.' I took his hands in mine and walked over closer to the tree so we wouldn't be in the open, well not as in the open. He backed me up against the tree and proceeded to kiss me as his hands trailed up my sides, to my shoulders and under my sweater to take it off. I kicked my shoes off and I ran my fingers through his hair then held my breath as he trailed kisses down to my neck. I let my sweater fall to the ground then grabbed the tree behind me trying to steady myself when he lightly kissed at the swell of my breasts and ran his fingers over the back of my knee making my leg flich and up my thigh. My eyes grew heavy as he bent down and picked my sweater up. He laid it out on the ground then took his jacket off so it could join my sweater. He took my hand and brought me over to the makeshift blanket. I felt my throat constrict as we laid down and he was hovering over me putting his attention back on my neck, he slowly removed my leggings then trailed his fingers lightly up from my ankle and up to right under my bra pulling my dress up as he did so. I probably would have felt self conscious if it hadn't been for the fact that he's seen me without a top article of clothing on. He took his time kissing down my torso to right under my underwear band. He grabbed the band of my underwear and continued kissing down as I lifted my hips up so he could remove them fully. I gasped and out of instinct tried closing my legs when he started sucking on my clit, but he put his hands on my thighs holding my legs open. Once I got comfortable I ran my fingers through his hair and gently tugged at the ends of his hair. He flicked his tongue over my clit and nibbled lightly. My hips involuntarily lifted so he put his hand on my groin holding me down as he trailed his left hand down my thigh to my opening and slipped his middle finger in me and curled his finger up dragging it out slowly then slipping it back in. He soon started going faster making my breathing quicken, I moaned quietly feeling my nervousness slowly diminish as he kissed back up to the swell of my breasts leaving a wet trail. He brought his hands up to my mid torso and sat me up then his hands wandered underneath my dress slowly pulling it off. He kissed along my shoulder and up to my neck as he unclasped my bra sending shivers down my spine. I looked into his eyes as I swallowed the lump in my throat seeing nothing but the utmost love, care and desire. I ran my hands down his chest and ran them back up with his shirt in my grasp. He lifted his arms up so I could get it off and tossed it aside. I brought my lips to his chest and kissed down his pale abs leaving red imprints for several seconds. I got down to his pants and felt my nerves returning as I unbutton his pants and timidly pulled them down with the rise of his hips so I didn't have to struggle with the task. I looked up at him and he nodded reassuringly as his pants reached his knees. I finished pulling them off and put them in the pile of clothing and crawled back up to his torso. I put my legs on either side of his legs getting into his lap and grazed my lips over his before he brought his mouth down to my chest and took my left breast into his mouth. I arched my body into his and grabbed the hair at the nape of his neck as my lips parted and I lost the ability to breath. I lowered myself down all the way on his lap having his arousal press up against my core and shivered at how big it felt and reassured myself I was just nervous. I started rocking my hips against his length and felt the vibrations from his groan go across my body. He moved his mouth to my right nipple and cupped my left breast to start massaging it. I let out a breathless whimper when he experimented by lightly biting my now erect nipple. He brought his hand down and started rubbing my clit and I flinched involuntarily as my hips continued grinding against him feeling him grow harder. I felt my grip on my sanity slowly loosening, I moaned, 'Erik I can't wait any longer.' I surprised myself that I said that when I was a ball of nerves. I slid down to his knees taking his boxers with me and felt less worried when I saw he wasn't as big as he felt, but no where near small. I brought my left leg to the right side so he could kick his boxers off and I could grab the condom. I fumbled with the packaging and pushed the condom to the side before tearing it open. I went back to sitting over his knees and made sure the condom was the right way before pinching the tip and rolling it down his length. As I went up to his lap and he laid back I felt stress cramps coming on.

He propped himself up on his elbows. 'Are you sure you want to do this?' He looked me in the eyes as I nodded.

'Yeah I just uh nervous and stuff.' I cautiously grabbed his length and rubbed it against my clit then down to my opening. The heat between my legs grew when he groaned from the contact. I started lowering myself down and shot back up from the stinging. I relaxed my muscles and attempted it for a second time. I bit my lower lip and took a deep breath as the pain intensified and tried not to scream when I was down all the way. I bent forward with my hands on his chest and took deep breaths. 'Don't move whatever you do.'

'I won't don't worry.' He put a piece of hair behind my ear then brought all my hair around to one shoulder. He rubbed my cheek with his thumb and sat up so he could gently kiss me. He put his forehead on mine and rest his hand on the back of my neck. 'I love you.' I smiled and grazed his lips with mine finding it comforting that he said it in a more intimate setting not in the middle of a fight.

'I love you too.' The pain had diminished so I slowly started grinding against him getting used to the feeling of him inside me. Working past the discomfort I started picking my speed up and Erik put his hands on my hips and I could tell he was trying not to pull me down. I let out a faint moan and dug my nails into his chest as I began lifting myself up and Erik would pull me down. I found my body reacting to his grunts and moans in ways I never would have thought I would have. After 5 minutes he got up on his knees and gently laid me down on my back. He started thrusting into me and started stimulating my clit with his thumb pushing me closer to the edge, I wrapped my legs around his hips pulling him closer. I crossed my eyes and tightened my muscles as he changed to agonizingly slow. He put his head back and moaned when I ran my nails down his chest trying to grab onto anything. After what seemed like hours, but was really only several minutes I felt the pressure wash over my body as he pulled out, I didn't even attempt to silence my cries of pleasure as his moaning sent my body further into the ecstasy, seconds passed of my body twitching and my body being on fire until I slowly began to fall from the high. I closed my eyes and began working on my evening breathing out. 'Wow.' I pushed my bangs out of my face and looked at Erik who had laid down onto his back trying to achieve the same goals as me. I felt my legs trembling. 'We just...'

***End of nooughty scene***

'Yes we did...' He looked from me, up to the sky and looked like he just realized what happened as well. 'Do you regret it?' He looked at me.

I shook my head and furred my eyebrows. 'No I don't. It just kinda hit me, I mean we… and I'm not a… wow this is a big change.' I became genuinely curious. 'Was I bad?' My legs wouldn't stop shaking so I clenched my leg muscles hoping that'd stop it.

'Not in the slightest, but then again I don't have a long list of experience telling me otherwise.' I nodded my head and sat up deciding it would be wise to get dressed. I shakily handed Erik his clothes before grabbing my bra and putting it on before my dress. Too lazy to put my leggings back on I slipped my shoes on and attempted to stand up to pull my dress down completely. I stood for a second but my knees gave out on me. I laughed and tried to stand again but it wasn't working out since my entire body was shaking. Erik stood up and finished his putting his pants on then helped me stand. I grabbed my underwear and put them on while leaning on Erik since I couldn't seem to stand on my own, being fully dressed besides my sweater and leggings I turned to him and wrapped my arms around his waist then got on my tippy toes to give him a kiss. Once we broke apart we rested our foreheads on one anothers, I whispered, 'Thank you.' then gave him another kiss.

I reluctantly broke from his embrace and bent down to grab my sweater and his jacket. I handed him his jacket and he thanked me. I looked up and Erik confused. 'Where's the uh-'

'I have it so I can throw it away over there.' He motioned to a trash can with his left hand and I nodded in understanding. We slowly walked over to the trash can then out of the park hand in hand with my head leaning on his arm. We walked in silence back to my house, so it was only 5 minutes of peaceful silence, not the awkward kind. He followed me up to my front door and gave me a kiss goodbye. 'I'll see you next Monday.' I smiled sadly and gave him a hug not wanting to let go. He rubbed my back while kissing the top of my head. 'I have to go now and I'm sure Meg and your father are looking for you.'

I sighed knowing he was right. 'I'll see you next Monday.' We kissed one last time before I opened the front door which meant my dad was still up and looked at Erik one last time until the door closed behind me. I kicked my shoes off and bent down to pick them up already telling that I was going to be ridiculously sore in the morning. I walked past the kitchen not seeing anyone and then into the living room for the second time where Meg and my dad were past out on opposite chairs with the TV playing some TLC show that I didn't know the name of. I went over to Meg and tapped on her shoulder and she shot up and looked at me then relief spread through her face. I put my finger up to my mouth and motioned to go upstairs. She nodded and stood up following me over and up the stairs. I excused myself needing to go to the bathroom and locked the door behind me. I went over to the toilet and sat down once I pulled my underwear down and grabbed my washcloth, laying it on my knee for when I needed it. Once I was done I grabbed some toilet paper and cleaned myself up and had blood on it when I checked to see just how much I had bled. I stood up and flushed the toilet then put my foot up on the counter so I could wipe the blood off of my thighs and in between my legs and tried to get myself to stop shaking. After I was cleaned up I tossed my washcloth back in the tub and washed my hands. I grabbed my things off the counter and left the bathroom for my room. I was immediately bombarded with questions after I closed the door and tossed my shoes, leggings and hat on the floor. 'Meg calm down and take a deep breath.' She nodded and breathed in through her nostrils. 'Alright now ask me one question at a time.'

'What happened between you and Erik?' We sat down on the bed and I looked down hiding the blush I knew was there.

'We just went for a walk and talked.' Meg didn't look convinced when she pushed my hair back from my neck showing red bite marks I didn't notice before.

'Was he a good talker?' I bit back a smile and found myself nodding.

'Yeah he's really good.' She began to squeal but then she looked at me, my neck then down at my pile of disregarded clothes and I was going to punch myself if she figured it out from the leggings.

'So what'd you guys do besides talking and walking?' Her voice went up a pitch and she raised her eyebrow at me.

'Oh ya know we played on the play gym… climbed a tree. The usual.' I scratched the back of my head knowing the statement wasn't an entire lie.

'Yeah you definitely climbed a tree tonight, just not one with leaves.' I felt my cheeks and ears get warmer and Meg clapped triumphantly. 'I knew it! How was it? Did it hurt? Was he good? Where did you two even do it?'

'Meg I'm not telling you because we didn't do anything.' I crossed my arms across my chest attempting to convince her, but in the back of my head knew it was useless.

'Oh come on! You can't lie to me even if you wanted to. So just answer my questions and be happy to do so.' I sighed and nodded for her to restate her questions. 'Well question one, where the hell did you guys even do it?'

I bit my lower lip and bit back a smile. 'Well we didn't exactly _climb _the tree. We just sorta laid under it.'

Her mouth dropped and she had the biggest smile. 'Your first time was outside under a tree? That's pretty hot. Alright question two, who initiated it?'

'I did. He was really uncomfortable with the idea of having sex with me in general since it was my first time, he said I should wait for the guy I'm gonna marry and it's just like I don't know who I'm going to marry _if _I do. It could be him for all I know.'

She nodded and processed that for a moment. 'Alright and how long did it last and was it good?'

'It lasted about 10 or 15 minutes I was a little busy to remember precisely and he made me… well you know...once which is rare during your first time I heard so I'd say it was pretty good.'

'Well did it hurt? Oh most important question of all, how big was he? He wasn't small was he? He just doesn't seem like the type to be small.'

I nodded and remembered all the sensations when he first entered me. 'It hurt like a bitch, but the pain went away after a minute. Then as he started moving it was uncomfortable for a couple minutes but it got better. I don't think he was small I might have thought he was bigger than he really was because I absolutely scared like I had cramps I was that nervous.' I held my two index fingers about 5 or 6 inches apart. 'From what I could see he was about that size.'

'Damn girl you hit the jackpot. Was it awkward? Okay actually scratch that this is the most important question, did you use a condom because I do not want to be an aunt.'

'It surprisingly wasn't awkward and yes Meg we used a condom and he pulled out.'

'Good! Being safe is caring.' She pulled me in for a hug. 'Ah! Now my group for having had sex has two members in it!... Ha I'm funny.'

'You know I know you haven't had sex yet right?' I looked at her and saw her blush.

'What of course I have!' She ran her hand through her hair.

'May I ask with whom?'

'With that one dude… that had a penis and stuff.' I looked at her with the _is that all you have? _Look. 'Fine okay you're alone in the group!'

'See was that too hard to admit? Alright well I'm gonna change and head to bed because I'm tired and today has been a confusingly long day.' I stood up and went over to my closet for pajamas, I grabbed some plaid flannel pants, a clean pair of underwear, a sports bra and an old Cardinals team jersey I won last year at a school raffle that was 6 sizes too big. I took my dress off and bra off and put the bra and jersey on. I slipped my somewhat bloody underwear off and put the clean pair on. I tripped trying to put my pants on, 'Oof! I swear I'm completely disoriented.' I brought my pants up to my waist then stood up content with my choice of pajamas. I went over to my bed and crawled onto the right side so Meg could have the left, she turned the lights out and got in bed next to me. 'Goodnight Meg.'

'Nighty night Chris.' She moved around on the bed and that was the last I heard from her. I looked up at the dark ceiling and started thinking to myself. _Oh god what did I do? I put it out before we even had our first date. What if he think's I'm a whore now? Not even two months ago I was sure I wanted to wait till I got married or it was the right time and I just spontaneously had sex in a park without a second thought. What does that mean? I'm going to keep overthinking this and it's going to eat me alive I can tell. _I rolled onto my side and closed my eyes in attempt to fall asleep. As I laid there images from earlier flashed through my mind, the images faded and I fell asleep.

**Erik:**

_God you're such a moron why did you do that! She's going to regret it within a week and hate you for listening to her. God she was beautiful though. _I groaned inwardly and rolled my face into the pillows. _You had no right to take that away from her you selfish bastard God you're a piece of shit. She asked me to though. Since when do you do what people ask you? Do you know what if she hates me, she hates me, I did what she asked and she didn't seem to regret it while I was around her after and arguing with myself doesn't help with the situation._ I turned my head so I wasn't fighting to breathe and closed my eyes pushing my thoughts aside in the journey for sleep.

**Authors note: Alright I am **_**super **_**pleased with this chapter I'm going to be honest. I'm getting more comfortable with writing sex scenes but they aren't even close to perfection yet. I wrote three different outcomes of them getting together, all including Ella, but one happened further down the road and if I had gone with that route Ella wouldn't have been the character she is in this version. The other version they didn't have sex but I thought why the hell not? So yeah I'm just… I love this chapter but they're not going to be horndogs after this I mean they make out but sex doesn't happen that much because really what teenagers have the opportunity to have sex every 5 minutes like rich adults do? *squeals* **


	8. Over Priced Christmas Tree Lot

**The Next Morning **

'Christine Daae what's going on in here?' I quickly sat up and rolled off the bed in the process.

'Ahh! What I didn't do it! What's going on?' I stood up and looked at my dad who was standing at my door looking at Erik who was now awake and standing as well. 'Oh… So we were watching a movie last night and nothing more. We fell asleep.'

'It didn't look like nothing to me, do you not know the definition grounded?'

'I have no idea what it looked like because I was asleep so please shed some light on what it looked like to you.'

'You two were cuddling!' I gasped and put my hands over my mouth.

'Cuddling? Oh dear Lord my innocence is gone! Really dad you make it sound like we purposely fell asleep that way. Last thing I remember I was laying at the end of the bed upside down.'

'I can vouch for that.' Erik put his index finger in the air.

'Dad we're friends so will you just calm down?' I felt horrible saying that but my dad couldn't know.

'Christine you're _grounded _that means you don't hang out with friends, no if and's or buts.'

I crossed my arms and nodded. 'Well I guess it'll just be Norman, Sammi, you and I this Christmas. Meg and Anne can't come over.'

'You know what I mean.' He looked at me impatiently.

'Why don't you just unground me? It's obviously I'm not going to listen to it and shit just keeps coming up that I get a pass for. I haven't gotten in trouble since that night and I know I'm never going to throw a party with booze again. I was having a bad day and I listened to Norman.'

'You listened to Norman? Why the hell would you do that?' His expression changed to _have you gone mad?!_

'Because. .Having. .Day. So just unground me, no more parties, no more skipping school and no more Erik falling asleep on my bed and us accidentally cuddling while being asleep.'

He sighed and looked at Erik then back at me. 'Whatever do what you're gonna do.' He threw his hands in the air and left my room mumbling. Erik looked over at me and smirked.

'So just friends huh?'

I smiled and walked over to him. 'Do you want to go to Canada with Meg and I? He originally told me he wanted me to take Jeremy and I told him he kissed me and he immediately took it back. There's no way in hell he'd let you go if he knew we were together.' I stood up on my tippy toes and gently kissed him. He put his hands on the small of my back and started rubbing it softly.

'I should probably get home I think my uncle is coming into town today.' He looked down at me.

'Do you want to stay for breakfast?' He itched his chin and looked over at my window.

'I don't love to but I can't. I mean if you want to come over you can I'm sure my dad will be fine with it.' I bit my lower lip/cheek.

'I dunno meeting the family? That's a bit of a step for us.' I tried not to smile as I walked over to my closet. 'But in all seriousness if your uncle is coming into town I wouldn't want to impose. We can have breakfast when we go to Canada.' I pulled a simple plum tanktop, a grey cardigan and matching grey skinny jeans from my closet then went over to my bra and underwear drawer. I grabbed a clean pair of underwear and a bra then turned to look at him.

'Are you sure? I mean it's just breakfast my dad just wants me there when my uncle gets there.' I looked down at the floor.

'Do they know about us?'

'No I haven't had the chance to tell them plus I didn't know if you wanted me to.' I looked up and smiled.

'No I'm fine with you telling them just don't tell them about last, last Sunday.'

'So you'll come?' He smirked and put his hands in his pockets.

'Alright I'll come. Only because you have really cute bed hair.' I went out to my bathroom and closed the door. I refreshed my deodorant, brushed my teeth, brushed my hair, changed, went to the bathroom and did my makeup all in a matter of 5 minutes and I felt really proud of myself. I put some perfume on before walking back into my room and over to my closet for some shoes. I couldn't decide on my converse or flats so I went with flats wanting to seem girlier. I slipped them on and turned to Erik. 'Okay I'm ready and prepared to tackle anyone I have to.' I pointed at my shoes and giggled. He walked over to me and took my hand.

'Hopefully no one tried to attack me today.' He brought my hand up to his mouth and kissed my knuckles. I smiled and grabbed my purse from my nightstand as he walked out of the room and closed the door behind me. I followed him down the stairs and went over to my dad and gave him a hug. 'We're going for a walk. I have my phone if you need me.' I kissed him on the cheek then went over to the front door where Erik was waiting for me. I grabbed my sunglasses from the table and smiled as he opened the door for me. 'Thank you my kind sir.' I walked outside and turned waiting for him. He closed the door behind him and took my hand in his.

'You're very welcome mademoiselle. Would you prefer to walk or drive.' I looked up at the cloudy sky and smiled. 'Let's walk.' I leaned my head on his shoulder as we started walking down to the drive way. 'So you're a cuddler huh?' I looked up at him.

'Or you're a cuddler either suggestions are possible.'

'Alright I'll take the credit. So what if your dad gets angry that I came over?' I took my sunglasses off since there was no sun to be found.

'He shouldn't. I mean I've never randomly brought a girl home for breakfast but yeah he probably won't.'

'Alright I trust you on this.' I put my head back on his arm as we walked the rest of the way in silence. I felt the ball in my stomach tighten when we got to his house and he led me up the pathway to his front door. He went to open it but I grabbed his hand to stop him. 'Maybe I should go home. This is more of a family thing.'

'If you're uncomfortable with this I can take you home, but I'm 99% sure my dad won't get mad.' I nodded my head and swallowed the lump in my throat.

'Alright let's do this.' I took my hand off his and he opened the door. I walked inside and he released his hand and put it on my hip after taking his jacket off so I set my hand on top of his.

'Dad I'm home!'

'I'm in the kitchen!' We walked through the entryway and over to the kitchen and I found myself looking at the floor. 'Who's this?' I looked up and awkwardly smiled at him. 'Oh! Sorry you had blonde hair last time I saw you.'

'Yeah I'm a bluenette now- I am terribly sorry for that pun I'll show myself out.' I turned to leave but Erik pulled me back. He looked down at Erik's hand on my hip and smiled.

'I see you told her. I told you it'd work out.' He turned and started cutting the onions again.

'Yeah… so where's Jeff?' His dad grabbed a paper towel and dabbed under his eyes.

'He's in the backyard with Nadir starting a fire for some reason.' Erik nodded and we started walking over to the sliding glass door.

'So Jeff is your uncle?' He nodded and opened the slider and we walked out.

'Yep he isn't weird like most Jeff's though… but then again I'm obligated to say that aren't I?' He smiled and kissed me on the cheek as we walked over to Nadir and Jeff who were sitting by the fire. Nadir looked up and smiled.

'Hey Christine! I haven't seen you since the winter dance.'

I smiled and nodded. 'Yep that was… like 2 weeks ago so it's been a little while.' We went over to a bench looking boulder and sat down. Jeff smiled at me and held his hand out. 'Hey I'm Jeff, I'm assuming you're Christine or that Nadir doesn't know your name.' I took his hand and nodded.

'Yeah no I'm Christine.' I leaned into Erik as he put his arm around my waist helping me calm down, but I don't think he knew the second part.

'So how long have you two been together?' He took another piece of paper and put it in the crackling flames. I let Erik tackle this one because I had no idea how to answer that.

'About a week but we've been pretty good friends since the very end of November.' Nadir straightened up in his chair and almost dropped his raw marshmallow.

'Why didn't you tell me you two started dating Erik? I have to say I'm offended.'

'Last time I checked you were telling me not to pursue her and by taking your advice I nearly lost her as a friend.' Erik punched Nadir on his knee.

'It was good advice at the time!' Erik smirked and shook his head.

'You keep using that word, I do not think it means what you think it means.' I started laughing at Nadir's blank expression.

'Why is she laughing?' He grabbed at the bag of marshmallows that Erik ripped out of his lap then began sulking.

'Because he quoted The Princess Bride and you didn't catch it.' He looked confused.

' The Princess Bride…?' I straightened my sitting posture and bent forward looking at him.

'You haven't seen The Princess Bride?' I looked over at Erik who looked just as shocked. 'Erik you've failed as a brother.'

He shrugged his shoulders. 'What can I say? I was too busy terrorizing him.'

'You? Terrorizing him? I thought he was older than you.' He shook his head.

'Nope I'm uh 10 months older than him? I don't know when his birthday is.'

'It was in October asshole give me my marshmallows back!' Erik put them out of his reach when Nadir reached for the back in attempt to get them back. I smiled and put the back to my side when Erik handed me them. 'Christine if you're as nice as you seem you will give me the marshmallows.' I shook my head.

'Tsk tsk tsk. I'm not as nice as I seem.'

Jeff started laughing. 'I like her.'

'She's withholding the marshmallows from me so I don't know how I feel about her.' He crossed his arms and sat back.

'Oh you love me, and if you really don't Meg will make you.' He stuck his tongue out at me and started biting his thumb nail.

'So what's up with the fire at 10 AM exactly?' Erik asked.

'I dunno its cloudy enough and who doesn't want to sit by a fire?'

'He has a good point.' I smiled when Erik started rubbing my side. 'Fires are like this states past time when winter is here and it's cool enough. Sometimes it doesn't get below 80 here during the day but that's cool enough for a long sleeve for me.'

'That's why I live in Hawaii.' The two marshmallows I was planning on eating fell out of my mouth.

'You live in Hawaii?' He smirked and nodded. 'Oh God I envy you.'

'Erik will have to bring you down some time and teach you how to surf.'

I looked over at Erik. 'You know how to surf? You left that out when we bonded over hot wing pizza.' He shrugged his shoulders.

'I guess I don't find it something people really care about.'

'Well it's more interesting than singing like any other magical skills you want to tell me about?'

'He can cook!'

'He can play piano!'

'He can also do laundry!' I looked up at Erik.

'Well I guess you're going to be doing my laundry from now on.'

'Why would you want me to do that? I pile everything into one load besides the whites and wash them.' He smirked when I rolled my eyes.

'I knew it was too good to be true.' I grabbed two more marshmallows and made a second attempt at eating them. I grabbed two more after I put the last two in my mouth and held them out for Erik to take. He grabbed them and ate one of them.

'Can I have a couple?' Nadir looked at me with puppy dog eyes. I grabbed a couple and held them out to him. As he went to grab them I tossed them over my shoulder to Jeff who caught them and ate them. He crossed his arms. 'You're Satan.' I shrugged my shoulders and grabbed more more.

'It's quite possible.' I looked over at Erik. 'Does your dad need any help in the kitchen? I feel bad that he's in there cooking all by himself.'

'If he were a normal human he'd probably want help, but he likes to cook alone.'

I narrowed my eyes. 'Are you guys trying to murder me with the hash browns or something?'

'Dammit you've figured us out.' Nadir pulled a pocket knife out and pulled the blade out. 'Now we have to kill you.'

'Ooo! Is that from the new Bear Gryll's knife set?' I grabbed the by the tip and they looked at me with wide eyes.

'He just said he was going to murder you, and you got excited over what knife it was and took it from his hands?' I flicked the edge of the blade with my thumb and nodded.

'If Nadir can't watch scary movies why would he be able to murder me? Like really you should have given the knife you Jeff. Uncle comes into town, ends up being the creepy murderous uncle.' I looked at then handle then tried to balance the knife on the back of my hand.

'Erik you stick with her when the Zombies roll around.'

'Most definitely.' He and I laughed and I handed the knife back to Nadir.

'You two have to survive so you can repopulate the world once it's all said and done. You'll go down in history as the new Adam and Eve's.' I covered my face as the four of us started laughing again. Among the fits of laughter Erik shook his head.

'Only you Nadir, only you.' Nadir lifted his shoulders and put the knife back in his pocket.

'Well y'know someone has to think of everything.'

'So what are you doing later today Christine?' I looked over at Jeff and stopped laughing.

'Uh I'm not sure. I'm probably going to lay on my floor and watch The Walking Dead or something.'

'Do you want to come with us to pick out a tree?' I opened my mouth to say something several times before finding the right words to say.

'I don't want to impose, I mean isn't that kinda a family thing?'

'This may freak you out, but Erik doesn't do relationships so when he brings you home, openly touches you around us and is just dating you in general, we celebrate it and he means business.' I looked over at Nadir and heard the truth in his words.

I smiled and nodded my head. 'Alright I'll go. It'll be more entertaining than watching the Walking Dead.'

The three of them started laughing and Jeff looked at me. 'Oh God she's sweet. Hun you don't have to make it sound like we're the most interesting people you've ever met and even _I _would rather watch the Walking Dead than go look for a Christmas tree.'

'Alright well I still would love to go.' I leaned my head on Erik's arm and smiled.

'So I have to ask, what inspired the blue hair?' Jeff sat back and crossed his legs.

'Oh right! Well it's a sorta long story. Erik and I went to go see Thor and after he went home I went over to my brothers to talk to his wife about somethings-'

'What things?' Erik asked.

'It's embarrassing.' I felt my cheeks growing red so I looked down.

'Alright you don't have to tell.'

'I finally told someone about how I felt about you and it was to her.' I covered my face and he started rubbing my arm.

'I don't know why you're embarrassed. I told my dad after I got home.' I looked up between my fingers.

'Really?' He nodded and I took a deep breath. 'Well anyway I told her, and she said I think it was when I said I couldn't tell him she threatened to make me a blue lesbian fairy.' Erik chuckled but Nadir and Jeff looked lost. 'I did her hair and dyed it pink and did a pixie cut. I kept calling her a lesbian fairy.' They nodded in understanding. 'So I was like not a bad idea so I cut my hair, and she who shall not be named dyed my hair blue.'

'Who's she who shall not be named?' Nadir and Jeff asked.

Erik rubbed his chin. 'Let's just she's it's not my proudest moment in my life.'

Nadir was about to say something when Kenneth walked out onto the patio and set plates on the table then walked back in. 'Does he at least allow people to help him carry things?' They all shook their head and I nodded figuring out where Erik got his stubbornness from. 'So where are you guys planning on buying a tree?'

'We- wow you ask an excellent question, we have no clue.' Erik looked down at the fire in thought like one of those deep moments in a movie when they think of life changing ideas.

'Well we usually go to Flagstaff to get a fresh tree but we haven't gone the past couple of years so we just go to Home Depot or overpriced tree lots.'

'Wait if you take the gas to drive to Flagstaff to get the free tree wouldn't it cost as much and or more than buying a tree from mentioned overpriced tree lot?' I glared at Nadir.

'Yeah but you don't get to play in the snow when you go to tree lots you get to play in mud and your shoes are lined with 4 inches of mud and dead pine needles.' I grabbed a few marshmallows and chucked them at him. He skillfully caught 3 of them, but the 4 that fell on the ground he picked up, and unshockingly ate them as well. 'Gross why would you do that! That's like eating gum off of the bottom of some hobos 4 year old shoes!'

'Whaaat? The rocks are new enough the 5 second rule still counts.' I hit my forehead with the palm of my hand.

'Silly me I forgot that rocks have an expiration date on when it's not gross to eat food off of them.' Everyone started laughing and Nadir said, 'This really bugs you doesn't it?' I nodded and he bent down and grabbed a rock.

'No don't do it.' He brought it closer to his mouth. 'I will give you the bag of marshmallows if you don't do it.'

He shook his head. 'No this is much more satisfying.' He started licking around the rock and I started gagging trying not to puke.

'This is all kinds of messed up.' I covered my mouth and looked away. I heard the rock fall onto the ground so I looked up and he was holding his tongue out with pile of mud on it which made me want to puke even more.

'Oh my God dude is that a spider?' I looked up and felt my nausea go away and leaned closer and started laughing at the sight of the spider crawling on his tongue.

'He has a spider on his tongue!' Nadir started wiping at his tongue desperately and Erik fell back laughing and didn't even notice that he just fell onto sharp rocks.

'So… is it… as… satisfying now?' I tried catching my breath but couldn't stop laughing long enough to do so. I looked over at Jeff who was trying to hide the fact that he was laughing after Nadir stood up and ran into the house. When my ribs started to feel like they had been cracked I tried calming down. 'Oh ow it hurts to laugh.' I rubbed my ribs and looked down at Erik who looked like he had no clue how to get up without stabbing his hands. I continued lightly laughing and stood up and over him. I held my hands out for him and magically managed not to fall on my ass when I pulled him up.

'You saved my life, thank you.' He bent down and kissed my hand while laughing.

'Oh it's twas no big deal. Princes are always falling on their asses lately.' I sat back down and sat straight like a royal would to add to the statement.

'I must agree with you mi'lady we are quite clumsy. We have a horrid habit of falling over and fainting.' He fell towards me and knocked me over and closed his eyes leaving me with dead weight. I had one hand in the rock holding me up on the bench as I was laughing trying to push him up. Quite difficult if you're in this position if I may say so.

'Lousy princes.' I managed to get him up high enough to use my shoulder to sit him up as I sat up. Once I had him up he fell forward folding in half basically. I looked over at Jeff who was now looking at us like we'd gone mental. 'I killed him, he died in a glorious battle though.' I poked him in the ribs and he sat up. 'Is someone ticklish?' He shook his head violently.

'No I am not why would you think that?' I lightly pinched his ribs again and he bent away.

'Ah ha! You are I have ways to torture you now.' He looked at me like I just said I was going to murder him as I tapped my fingers together looking sinister.

'Breakfast is ready!' We all looked over at the porch and stood up to go over.

'Hey Christine could you hand me the fire cover behind you please?'

'Oh yeah of course.' I turned around and picked it up and handed it to Jeff.

'Thank you.'

'No problem.' I smiled and took Erik's hand then we started walking over to the table.

**2 Hours Later**

'Don't even think about pushing me Nadir.' I slid past him as he slid past me through the mud.

'Why would I push you?' He looked at me as he slid.

'I dunno you had a spider on your tongue in a way because of me, so I don't trust you.' I smiled and started laughing when Erik tried grabbing me but ended up nearly slipping.

'Hang on lemme pull you.' Erik jogged to where I was and grabbed me by the waist.

'Alright.' He turned around and put his hands behind his back for me to hold. I took hold of them and he started running somehow without falling face first bringing me along with him.

'Nadir no!' By the time I saw what Nadir was doing he slid into Erik and I, and all three of us fell. 'Nadir you're a dick.' Erik punched him in his chest and stood up to help me. He had mud all over his legs and shoes, and entire back somehow managed to get mud on it.

'I'm going to murder him.' I gave him my hands and he helped me stand up.

'You'll be alright… right?' He looked at me cautiously.

'Murder him.'

'Murder is probably a no no.'

'I have mud all over my clothes, I'm going to murder him.' I tried wiping the mud off of my clothes but it didn't work.

'We'll just have you lay on your face in the back of the car.' Erik I could tell was trying not to laugh. I wiped some of the mud off my shirt and looked over at Nadir before walking over to him. He looked at my hand then started running and I wasn't far behind him. As I threw the mud at him Erik grabbed me from behind and lifted me up making me squeal.

'You just got mud all over the front of you.'

'Worth it.' He kissed my neck and then my cheek before letting me go.

'Oh break it up, you two are nauseating.' Our fingers intertwined and I stuck my tongue out at Nadir.

'Okay the t- what the hell happened?' Erik and I pointed at Nadir so Jeff didn't think we were responsible. He rubbed his face with his hands before shaking his head. 'Well looks like you three get to sit in the back with the tree.'

'Alright sounds cool.' I started walking bringing Erik along with me over to the truck.

'Here let me put the back down so you can get in.' As Erik walked over to but the lid thingy down I put my foot on the tired and pushed up and over to inside the bed of the truck. 'Well never mind then.' He smiled and closed the lid and waited for Nadir to get in before hopping over and sitting down next to me.

'So are one of those girls who wear dresses and high heels but isn't afraid to get elbow deep in grease and mud?' I nodded.

'Yeah Norman pretty much raised me, because my dad was a workaholic as you know, so I grew up doing boy stuff but I also because of his girlfriends still had all the girl things in my life.'

'That's pretty hot.' I looked over at Nadir and glared at him.

'Dude not cool.' Erik kicked him on his shin. 'Apologize.'

He started rubbing his shin. 'Sorry.'

'Tis quite alright boyfriends, brother.'

'Now I feel dirty for saying that.' He shifted uncomfortably as I brought Erik's face down to mine so I could kiss him. As the truck started moving our noses bumped and I couldn't help but laugh.

'Alright break it up you two, don't need to create any babies back here.' We both chucked and shook our heads as best as we could. Several seconds passed before he spoke up again. 'Do you guys have fucking gills or something? Jesus.'

'Hey you two you're fogging up the back window stop for a second!' We broke the kiss off and I looked up at Jeff who's head was poking out the back window and tried not to blush. I looked down at my shoes and licked my lips quickly to dampen them.

'I'm going to run home when we get back so I can shower and put my clothes in the laundry so they don't stain.'

'Alright, want me to walk you home or do you just want us to drop you off?'

'Might as well drop me off and you can get your car.' He started running his fingers over the lines on my palm.

'Sounds like a good plan, do you want to come back? I think Jeff wants to watch the Walking Dead now so we'll probably do that in a little bit. You don't have to if you don't want to of course.' I smiled and nodded.

'I'd love to come back, I'm sure my dad is at work or doing something around the house so it'll be much more entertaining to hang out with you guys, but tomorrow is Christmas so I have to be home earlier than usual so I can wrap all my presents for people. I might get lazy and throw them in gift bags though.' I pulled some hair out of my face.

'Makes sense.' He banged on the back window for Jeff to poke his head out again.

'You banged?' He looked down at us.

'Can you drop us off six houses to the left of ours? Black Toyota Camery in the front.'

'Yes sir.' He pulled his head back in and closed the window.

**10 Minutes Later **

We hopped out of the bed of the truck and they drove off, I looked over at my house and noticed that my dad wasn't home. My guess was he went to the store because he's horrible at making sure he has everything for a meal. I smiled and grabbed Erik's hand. 'Come on.'

'What? I thought you were going to shower.'

'I am but I don't want to walk to your house… I might get like robbed or something. I heard there's a killer bunny on the loose in the neighborhood.' I looked back at Erik and smirked. We went into the house and I made sure to lock the door and I went into the kitchen. I saw a note from my dad so I picked it up. It read, _I've gone to the store because I forgot several things for tomorrow night, if you're wondering why I'm leaving a note it's because I lost my stupid cell phone and it died. So anyway, if I'm not home by tonight I was most likely murdered by a crazed soccer mom for the last box of stuffing or something along those lines and you should probably call the cops and check all the ditches. Love, dad. _I smiled and set it down on the counter. 'Right so I'm going to shower and I'll be done in like 10 minutes so do whatever, ransack the place, make a cake I don't care.' I got on my tippy toes and kissed him on the cheek before going over to the stairs and stopping by my room for clothes. I grabbed a long sleeve navy blue and white dress, that was white for about four inches at the end which was above my knees and had cuffs that were white. The bottom was poofier and I pulled the belt that I always pair with it from the hanger I had on. After getting the white leggings and all of my bare essentials I went over to my bathroom to shower. After I got out and was dressed I went downstairs to put my clothes in the laundry. I went into the kitchen after I put them in the washer and then the family room to find Erik, but he wasn't there. 'Erik?!'

'Up here! Have you seen my phone since last night?' I hurried up the stairs and into my room to find him scanning the room.

'No the only reason I know you had it with you was because you called me on it. You probably left it in your car.' I went over to my bed and pulled the covers back in case it had slid out of his pocket while we were sleeping or watching movies.

'You uh dropped som- wait is that the thing from last week?' I turned around and Erik was holding up the stupid lingerie that seemed to be causing nothing but embarrassment. 'I thought this was Sammi's.' He handed it to me.

'No it's not. She gave it to me that Saturday after I dropped you off at home.' I looked down at the wadded ball of lace and leather.

'I don't want to overstep any lines but can I see what it looks like?' I looked up at him and felt my skin pale.

'Uh yeah sure.' I wasn't sure why I was becoming shy all of the sudden, I had plans to do more than just wear some skimpy clothing in front of him when I invited him in. It was probably that I was pretty much putting my body on for show in the middle of the day in clothes that are designed to put it as the center of attention which I didn't like. I left and went into the bathroom, as I took all of my clothing off I wondered if I had changed any after Erik came into my life, hoping I hadn't. I mean Meg wasn't complaining, but we also didn't see each other during school anymore so we didn't see each other as often. I finished hooking up the last grater strap and inspected myself in the mirror before taking a deep breath. I opened the bathroom door and went over to my room where he was standing leaning against the window sill looking out, he seemed fond of doing that for some reason, the desert wasn't that beautiful or interesting. I shifted on my feet awkwardly and walked up to him. I tapped his shoulder and he turned around, I suddenly felt completely naked and in front of a million people prepared to judge everything wrong with my body. I looked down at the floor as his eyes burned across my body waiting for him to say something.

'You make that look amazing.' He lifted my chin up and kissed me gently. We pulled our heads away and I looked him in the eyes for several seconds before pressing my body against his not caring about the dried up mud on the front of his clothing. I pulled him down so I could kiss him easier as his hands went to the front where he began unlacing the silk ribbon.

**Some Short Time Later **

'Christine I'm home!'

Erik stopped and said, 'Shit!' He pulled away and any and all progress we had made was shot in the face.

'Erik the door is locked I think two minutes wouldn't kill us.' I sat up and looked over at him as he hurried to get dressed.

'I am not even going to try and continue with him in the house. That is like walking in front of a gun and being surprised when you get shot.' I got up from the bed and walked over to him.

'Please we'll be fine, we just won't make any noise.' I grabbed his hands that were fumbling to pull his pants up and put them on my hips making his pants fall back to the ground. 'He doesn't even know if I'm home or not.'

He shook his head. 'We can't risk it.' I reached up and kissed him lovingly and when I knew he wasn't convinced I rubbed my body against his. His body became less tense and he fell into the kiss for a moment but immediately returned when my dad's bedroom door closed.

I whispered, 'Come on where's your challenge accepted attitude?'

'It jumped out the window a minute ago when your dad came home.'

'We won't get caught, and if we do I'll move with you to Russia where we'll be safe from him.' He shook his head and I knew he wanted to because he hadn't started getting dressed again. Knowing he cared that I got the fullest out of this I got down on my knees and smiled up at him. 'What are you doing?'

'If you won't get back in that bed I'll just do this and you can leave once you're done.' I brought my hand up to his length not quite on the ball with licking a condom thinking it would feel like putting a plastic bag in your mouth and sucking on it.

'You are a terrible human being.' He grabbed my hands and pulled me up before kissing me, slowly backing us back onto the bed. I smiled against his mouth when he got back over me and thrust back into me.

'I know I am.' I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him in closer shocked that it was possible. I felt the peak he had me at before my dad came home quickly returning. I dug my nails into his back as he bit my neck making my body let go, before I could stop it a moan escaped my mouth and Erik immediately kissed me to quiet me. A few seconds later he pulled out leaving me with a dull throbbing between my legs and a goosebumps spreading across my body. Our tongues wrestled as both of our bodies calmed down. I groaned when my dad knocked on the door. Erik shot up and went back over to his pile of clothes as I grabbed an old towel from my dirty laundry. 'Hang on!' I went over to Erik and gave him another kiss as he went over to the window.

'I'll be at my car.' He kissed me on the cheek and climbed out the window.

'Alright.' I hurried over to the door, unlocked it and opened it. 'Hi dad what's up?'

'How was your afternoon?'

'Oh it was good, I'm going back out once I'm dressed. I just got out of the shower but I forgot a bra so I just came into grab one.'

'Okay… you'll be home tonight right?' I nodded and rubbed the back of my knee with my big toe.

'Of course.' I smiled and walked around him to the bathroom.

'Where's the bra you went to get?' I stopped and turned around.

'I set it down to check my phone. Thank you for reminding me.' God I was a terrible liar. I walked back into my room and pulled a bra out of my dresser then back to my door.

'Where are you going?'

'Oh just down the street.' I walked back over to the bathroom.

'Erik's?' I turned around and nodded.

'We're watching the Walking Dead.'

'Ah well have fun.' He went down the stairs and I closed the bathroom door. I shoved the bra in one of my drawers to get it later and proceeded to get dressed and to curl/straighten my hair which took 5 minutes since I didn't have to straighten it all. I wasn't even going to mess with doing my makeup besides mascara, so once I was done I went over to my room and picked some navy blue heels and slipped them on. I grabbed my purse and phone before going downstairs to the kitchen where my dad was cooking.

'Bye dad I'll see you in a few hours.' I kissed him on his cheek and went over to the front door. I opened it up and went outside to find Erik still waiting by his car. I silently crept over to him and wrapped my arms around his waist in attempt to scare him. 'Boo!'

'Ah! You're really scary like you should open a haunted house.' I unlatched my arms and crossed them over my chest.

'After what we just did I'd keep the sarcasm on the down low mister.'

'You're not going to use that against me are you?' He pulled me up against him and put his hands down on my butt. I looked up at him and shook my head.

'No why would I? I'm just saying... I can hold future events away from you if you're not nice to me.' I grazed my lips against his.

'Terrible human being.'

'Like I said earlier, I know.' I smiled and kissed him again before pulling away from his embrace and opening the passenger side door to get in. I slid in and buckled my seatbelt while he went around and did the same.

'So how did you escape your dad's questioning?'

'I told him I went to get a bra since I forgot one before I got out of the shower. Didn't question a thing.'

'Are you good at lying or are you a, behaves around my parent so they don't suspect I did something while they weren't looking, kid?' He smirked as we pulled up in front of his house.

'Oh it's not that bad of a lie! Don't question it because it saved both our asses.' I unbuckled my seatbelt and got out of the car.

He stood up 'I'm not questioning- alright I'm questioning it. That's a really crappy lie.'

'Hey I find it very likely that I would forget a bra because my lazy subconscious mind is like bitch put pajamas on and play Minecraft all day, forget socializing.' He took my hand as we started walking up the driveway.

'You play Minecraft? I'm surprised.'

'Yeah not unless Meg can play or someone else because one player is just really boring.'

'Well I'll play it with you one of these days.'

'It's a date.' I leaned my head on his shoulder seeing that the heels made it possible as we walked into the house and into the living room. He kissed my cheek and let go of my hand.

'I'm going to go change. I'll be right back.' He disappeared up the stairs so I sat down on the sofa next to Jeff and Nadir.

'You have a strange wardrobe.' I looked over at Nadir.

'Why?'

'I don't know you go from like 14 year old girl outfits to like 19 year old woman outfits it's really bipolar.'

'What 14 year old girl outfits do I own exactly?'

'Like the thing you wore the day we met, it was all simple and then you go to dresses and not simple. Like I said very bipolar.'

'Nadir quite you're not making any sense.' He sat up defensively and looked at Jeff who was smirking.

'I'm a guy I don't know how to describe what I mean.'

'That's when you don't describe it.' Jeff brought his shoulders up and poked Nadir on his nose.

'Alright you two play nice.' I went to cross my legs but remembered I was wearing a dress and did the stupid ankle crossing thing instead. I brought my hair over to one shoulder and grabbed my phone to text Sammi so I wasn't sitting in awkward silence. I opened up a new message and wrote, 'Hello skank.'

'_Whore thank you very much. I ain't no freebie.'_ I bit back a laugh.

'Sorry common mistake, anywho when are you guys coming over tomorrow?'

'_Hmm probably about 8 or 9.'_

'Alright you better have gotten me something good.'

'_You know it.' _

'Okay everyone ready?' I looked up at my phone and saw Jeff over at the TV and Erik had taken his place.

'Jesus Christ you people are ninjas.' I put my phone in my purse and scooted closer to Erik as he put his arm around my shoulder.

'You were just very focused on your phone.' Erik smiled.

'No I'm set on you guys being ninjas. Makes for a much more entertaining mind.' I attempted to cross my legs without flashing everyone and I think I did a pretty good job but I was sitting behind what I was trying to hide so who knows.

'Okay important question, what season are you on?'

'For what? The Walking Dead?' He nodded. 'Season four.'

'So we have free reign of what episodes we watch, excellent.' I looked back over at Jeff who was still standing at the TV which was on now. I was looking down at my purse when Erik brought some hair back to my left side.

'Why'd you move my hair?' I brought it back to my right side when he poked my neck and I flinched when it was sore. 'Did you give me-' He nodded. 'Oh God do you have a scarf or something?' I moved all my hair to the left side mortified as he stood up and disappeared upstairs once again. Two anxious minutes later he's hurrying back down with a black scarf in hand and he jogs over to me for some reason.

'Here you are mi'lady.' He sits down and drapes it over my shoulders.

'Why thank you.' I wrap it around my neck and pull my hair that's intertwined in the scarf out. 'You own a scarf?' He shook his head.

'Nadir was kind enough to let me steal it from him.'

'First my marshmallows and now my scarf? You're an ass Erik.' Nadir crossed his arms and glared at him. Normally I'd feel bad and give it back but I was in no way walking around with red bite marks on my neck with his family after we took a little too long at my house. 'Why does she need my scarf anyway? It's warm in here.'

'I get cold easily.' I crossed my arms and Erik pulled me in closer to convince him. Nadir rolled his eyes.

**Five Hours Later **

I furrowed my eyebrows when someone started talking. 'Christine, wake up.' Erik's voice was soft… hmm what'd I'd do to have him talk like that all the time. 'Come on, let's get you home.' His voice was a whisper, giving in I barely opened my eyes and looked up at him through the small part my eyes were open.

'Hmm.' He untangled himself from somewhat underneath me and held his hands out for me. I lazily took them and he helped me off the couch, the room was dark besides the TV and I heard people in the kitchen. I wrapped my arm around his waist and he did the same to me as we walked to the kitchen.

'I'm going to take Christine home.'

'Alright, it was nice seeing you Christine.' I smiled lazily at his dad and held my hand up meant to be a wave.

'Nice meeting you Jeff.' I murmured amazed that I managed to find the energy to say that long of a sentence. He nodded and we started walking to the front door, I leaned my head on his shoulder as we walked out of the house and I yawned. Erik, being the trooper that he is practically held me up the entire walk home, my energy drained for some reason. His free hand covered my hand that was on his hip as we walked up the driveway to my place. He grabbed my keys from my purse and unlocked the door as I started falling asleep again. He opened the door and we went into the entryway. He kissed my forehead and whispered, 'Meet me at the park at 4 tomorrow.'

'Hmm.' My eyes started closing again as we walked over to the stairs but was stopped by my dad.

'What's wrong with her?' He walked over to me and helped Erik by taking me. I immediately missed his embrace. I opened my eyes all the way no longer comfortable meaning I wasn't as inclined to pass out and stood for myself.

'I'm fine.' I mumble and kick my heels off and pick them up. I give Erik a quick friend hug before climbing up the first stair. 'Thanks for letting me hang out with you guys today.'

'No problem.' He smiled sadly and looked down at the floor embarrassed when my dad looked at him. Before turning my head to look at the carpeted stairs he licked his lip and bit it nervously with his hands in his front pockets as he looked at me under his eyelashes.

'Good night Erik. Dad.' My dad nods and I climb up the stairs to my bedroom. Too lazy to change or do anything I manage to strip down to my bra and underwear as I climb into bed completely disregarding my unwrapped presents in the bottom of my closet. I pull the comforter up to my chin quickly before falling asleep.


End file.
